Instinct
by Kayire
Summary: Three years passed since Touko defeated N and a lot has changed. N has refused to stay down and has become one of the most popular faces of Unova through wealth. Touko thinks it's suspicious, but nobody else seems to think so aside from Cheren who believes that he is in love with her. Meanwhile, a depressed Belle has severed ties with Touko and lives in Nuvema. Language and death.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One – Three years

**Disclaimer: I am not the original author of this story I am reposting it and continuing it with Lady Paprika's permission. I must warn you: my updates may be a little slow as I just started a new job that occupies most of my time. I also changed the initial rating from M to T because I'm not going to lie, I can't write a lemon to save my life. If anyone reaaaaallly reaaaallly wants one, I might be convinced and change the rating appropriately.  
**

**I hope everyone enjoys this ficcie as much as I did when I first read it and only hope I can do Lady Paprika's story justice. **

* * *

"Name please?"

"Touko. Touko White."

A startled look. Yes, she got that a lot. Especially nowadays. That attentive snap of the head, the sudden apologetic look in the eye. "Oh miss, I'm s-sorry!"

"For what?" Touko grinned as she looked at the secretary in front of her. She was attractive, Touko supposed. Long blond hair that was professionally tied up, timid green eyes and from what she could observe, she hardly has an ass. She could easily be a D though. Touko frowned. "Are you new?"

"Y-yes, I just started two weeks ago," the woman responded breathlessly, trying not to acknowledge that _the_ Miss Touko White was staring at her boobs.

Touko's grin became all too understanding. "Figures," she responded.

"Excuse m-me?"

Touko uncrossed her legs with a flourish as she quickly stood up and suddenly she had herself pressed up against the secretary. Her chocolate brown eyes glinted maliciously at the secretary. "You look like a Vivian. Can I call you Vivian?" she asked, her mouth inches from the woman's ear.

The woman sighed in agreement, barely nodding as she felt the girl's warm breath against her ear. Her name was really Jane, but Vivian sounded a lot better when Touko said it, the way her teeth had to lightly scrape against her lower lip not once, but twice to say it. The secretary felt Touko place her hands on the back of her head and suddenly her blonde hair had unraveled itself and Touko was running her fingers through it. It felt so good, that even though they were in a public setting, "Vivian" did not mind. She wanted Touko right then and there. A dull flush rose up her cheeks when Touko withdrew her head slightly and whispered, "Much better, but still not perfect."

"Mmm?" she said vaguely, her mind too caught up in the heady moment and suddenly Touko's expert hands were at the top button of her blouse doing something very interesting with it. It took a second for Vivian to understand that Touko had quickly undone the first three buttons, baring a lot of her cleavage. Then she did something quite unexpected to Vivian at least: she took a step backward. She was disappointed. Why hadn't she gone further?

"You should wear tighter clothing. He likes that," Touko said looking over her work in approval. Vivian's jaw dropped, trying to register what Touko had said. "Oh, nice big mouth too. Why, it's like you practically rolled onto his lap. Which you should do as often as you can." With a smirk, the Pokemon Champion turned on her heel, preparing to walk deeper into the building.

"Where are you going?" Vivian managed to choke out.

Touko turned back and the smile playing at her lips were just as teasing as the look she gave her. "To see your boss of course."

* * *

It had been three years since Touko had defeated N. Three of Touko's easiest years of her life, for ever since that day, all of Unova practically worshipped Touko. And quite honestly, why wouldn't they? She was an ideal hero. She was confident, sexy and a damn good Pokemon trainer.

Touko appreciated it, took it all in stride. No longer did she have to wear that ridiculous ball cap and trailer trash shorts. She had enough money to buy the latest designer wear and she always let it be known that she did. Wearing the latest fashionable boots, skinnies and sleeveless blouse and toting an enormous _Beautifique_ bag (A bag that hadn't even hit the runway thankyouverymuch!)

Yes, life was good. Life was grand even, but there was one figure who had benefited Touko's success even more than even she did and that was N. One would think that defeating N would mean that he would've been squashed to a pulp. One would have thought that the defeat of N meant the defeat of Team Plasma. Yet this was not the case.

As Touko rode the elevator, she tapped a heeled boot against the steel floor impatiently and counted the floors even before the tiny box beeped, indicated she reached another floor. She closed her eyes, folding her arms against her chest tightly. "Level sixty-one," a cool female voice said.

Touko cracked open an eye and opened them fully when she realized the doors had smoothly given way. She got out and the cool female voice said, "Have a nice day."

"Thanks. You too." She said dryly.

She strode across the long hall. Despite all the doors that lined the hall, there was only one occupant on the last floor of Team Plasma's Headquarters and he spent most of his time behind the door that was at the end of the hall. It seemed excessive that he had the whole floor to himself. Then again, Touko thought wryly, N liked excess.

Case in point: Vivian.

Touko wondered how long she would last but before she could come up with a concrete answer, her XTransceiver began to ring an Espeon's cry. She quickly pressed a button that would allow her to talk.

"Touko speaking," she said, not bothering to look at the tiny screen.

"Obviously, otherwise, why would I have called you?" Cheren's voice snapped at her from the watch. Touko brought her wrist up to her face so that she could see her friend's face. As usual his face looked downright irritable.

"What do you want, Cherry berry?" she asked, knowing full well that he hated her nickname for him. He also hated any variant Touko liked using in place of his name.

"Your _mother_ wants to know where you are." he said, trying to ignore her nickname for him. "I've been lying for you for a while now, but you and I both know this can't last. When was the last time you spoke to her anyway?"

Touko paused. "I can't remember," she said, brows furrowed in thought. "Must've been two weeks ago..?"

Cheren's own eyebrow raised a notch. "_Two _weeks ago, Touko? No wonder she's been blowing my phone up. She seems more my mom than yours. When are you going to call her?"

"Soon, okay?" Touko responded. The door at the end was getting closer.

"Soon?" Cheren repeated. "When is 'soon' for you, anyway, a year? Touko, are you paying attention?!"

"'Course I am. I said soon, didn't I? I'll speak to you later. I've got business to take care of." Ignoring Cheren's exclamations, she firmly pressed a button on her XTransceiver, effectively ending their communication.

She stared at the door for a moment, squaring her shoulders. Then she fixed a smirk on her face and strode through the doors.

* * *

Cheren stared at the black screen with the words, "Call Ended" flashing across them. The nerve of Touko! He felt like smashing the wristwatch contraption every single time she did this to him. For once, he surmised, he wished he could be the one cutting the communication off just so she knew how it felt. But of course, that wouldn't happen anytime soon. Touko would have to call him first, and she hadn't done that in two years.

Things had certainly changed, he reflected as he called out his Unfezant. The male bird Pokemon stretched its wings out and clawed the dirt expectantly. Cheren felt a twinge of guilt; he hadn't exercised his Pokemon in a while. He kept telling himself that he would, but the fact of the matter was that each day was busier than the next. As he stroked the pink feathers of the bird, he said quietly, "Up for a trip to Castelia City, Fez?"

Unfezant gave an excited coo. As Cheren mounted the bird, his XTransceiver rang. He picked up and, thinking it was Touko, he drawled, "Business already taken care of, then?"

"Uh, no?"

Cheren cursed mentally. It wasn't Touko, it was Belle. The blonde had called and he hadn't expected it? Now that was a first. "Er... Hello Belle," he stammered, wishing his Unfezant would trample on him. "What's up?".

"Nothing, just checking up on you," Belle responded. "I just got to Nuvema, and I was wondering if you were around. I was hoping we could catch up."

Cheren resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He knew she was watching his expressions and he also knew that Belle was very sensitive particularly when it came to him. "Sorry, Belle," he said. "I was actually on my way to Castelia City. I'm in Driftveil right now."

"Oh. Well, that's okay! Maybe some other time then, huh? I feel like we haven't seen each other in ages!" she said. He noticed that she'd looked down when he told her it wasn't possible, but she now held the cheeriest smile. Typical Belle behavior.

"You can see me now," he pointed out.

"I mean in person, silly!" she laughed. "Anyway, why are you going to Castelia?"

Cheren bit his lip, wondering whether to tell her or not, but this act in itself seemed to tip Belle off. Her celery green eyes suddenly adopted a cool look. "Oh, I see now. You're going to see her." She said this casually, like she didn't care. However, Cheren knew she did.

"Belle…" he started.

She shook her head, disallowing him to continue. "No, Cheren. You don't have to explain it to me. Though I'm always going to wonder _why _you still put up with her shit."

"It's not that simple, Belle," he said.

"Of course. Not for you anyway." Belle said, rolling her eyes. "And I honestly pity you for being_ attached_ to her that way, I really do. But you can always get out." She paused. "There are other girls out there for you, you know."

"I'm not settling, if that's what you're saying," Cheren snapped.

Belle's pupils dilated as her eyes widened in surprise. And Cheren knew why, he hardly showed any sort of irritability around her. "This is what I want."

Belle looked cowed for a moment, but then her green eyes, normally soft and ethereal, crackled in anger. "It's settling if you're engagement is with a girl that doesn't even love you. It's settling if you're doing it for publicity!" They two glared at each other through the screen.

Then Belle's eyes narrowed dangerously and she said softly, "Maybe you're really in love with her, Cheren. Maybe that's why to you it doesn't seem like settling."

"Shut up!" he hissed. "You're being ridiculous."

She knew she'd gone too far, but she couldn't help herself. "It's true! You love her don't you? She doesn't even love you back. How pathetic are you?!"

Cheren's eyes regarded her coldly. "I'm sure you're familiar with unrequited love Belle, but that doesn't mean I am. Now if you'll excuse me..."

"What do you mean by that?" Belle asked, but her cheeks were turning a deep red.

"You know exactly what it means," he said. With that he pressed the button, ending their communication.

He usually loved flying, but this time he was fuming throughout the whole flight. The pulsing beat of Unfezant's wings only added to his irritation. He'd never seen Belle act out like that, but then they usually avoided the topic of Touko. It was a sore spot for Belle he knew.

He stared out at the fluffy white clouds, brooding. Castelia City's skyline was growing more visible by this point. Even though he was no longer constantly poor, dirty and tired, the way he usually was as a trainer, Cheren constantly missed those days that Touko, Belle and he traveled together. They'd been such great friends together and shared so many memories together on the road. So much had changed since Touko's triumphs three years ago, but at what cost? He shook his head. He never thought he'd be the first to think it, but he missed their easy friendship.

As Unfezant began his descent, Cheren forced these nostalgic thoughts away and pondered on where to find Touko. It was important he find her before she did something stupid.

* * *

Belle blinked away her tears. She knew she ought not to have yelled at Cheren, but this time she couldn't help herself. She'd never had the courage to yell at Cheren that much before. But to throw her feelings in her face?

"Belle?"

Belle hastily wiped the tears away from her eyes and turned to face Professor Juniper. If there was one thing that Belle felt calm at it was at Juniper's. She felt like nothing changed here and for that she was grateful. Professor Juniper was still the bright young and attractive professor that Belle remembered meeting her as, nearly six years ago. "Yes, professor?"

The professor looked at her sternly over her green glasses. "What did I say about that title? Just call me Aurea."

"S-sorry," Belle said. Honestly, Belle usually remembered that she was now on a first name basis with Aurea Juniper, but when she was flustered, she usually forgot and ended up calling Aurea by her formal title…which was Professor Juniper.

Professor Juniper smiled, and then said, "What's the matter?"

Belle shrugged casually and then held out her notebook. "I gathered some notes on the mating rituals of a Sawsbuck during Autumn and it seems to me like the results are inconclusive in that Deerlings originated during the Autumn time. If you look at my notes, you'll see why. I think it's more likely they came about during the Winter or Springtime."

Juniper took the worn out notebook from Belle's hands and set it on the table without looking through it. She put a hand on Belle's shoulder and said, "You'll have to do better than that, Belle. Now can you tell me what's really wrong?"

Belle's smile was even wider. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You just talked to Cheren, didn't you? You argued."

Belle's mouth fell open. "How did you know?" she asked.

Juniper smiled and steered Belle over to the couch so that the distraught girl could sit down. She rubbed her back comfortingly. "Oh Belle," she sighed. "Who else could provoke such loud emotions from you? You only yell at the people you sincerely care about and seeing as how you don't talk to Touko anymore..."

Belle stared at her hands bitterly until Juniper continued on, "Your father is dead and your mother is... Well... You know." she said. "The only person you're close enough to yell at is Cheren."

Belle laughed bitterly. "You make me sound like I'm pathetic and friendless."

Juniper pursed her lips. "Maybe because you _are_. Ever since you decided to sever ties with Touko..."

"You make it sound like I had a decision in that."

"You _did. _And that's not the point I'm trying to make. The point is," she said, taking a deep breath. "Is that you've refused to make any new friends since then."

Belle said, "That's not true! I have made friends!"

Juniper placed a hand on her hip. "Oh yeah? Name me one."

Belle was silent.

"I thought so," Juniper said. She got up. "Look Belle, I appreciate that you help out here a lot. You've been a big asset to my research, but I think you're using work as an escape to your personal life. You need to let go of the past and concentrate on the future. It isn't healthy to just push yourself in research and I'm sure Cheren would agree."

Belle sighed. "Maybe you're right," she said. But where would she even begin? Belle used to find making friends easy but now it seemed too hard for her to just go up to that cute research assistant she'd been eyeing at Nacrene City's Museum the other day or anyone else for that matter.

Still, she thought miserably, her life wasn't going the way she'd expected it to go.

* * *

"I don't recall inviting you here, White." The voice was smooth, alluring and completely male. Touko's eyes shot to the man who'd spoken and found him casually draped over a cushiony couch. He was reading a stack of papers, one leg trailing the floor, the other bent so that the foot rested on the arm of the chair. His back was against the other arm of the chair and one hand was arrogantly draped over the back of the chair. He did not deign to look at Touko who strode over to him, the same maddening smirk on her face.

"Oh, so now I need an invite?" Touko asked. She stood in front of him, arms crossed. She cast a shadow over his papers making it difficult for him to read. With a sigh, he righted himself up and finally swept his eyes to hers.

In Touko's more naive years, she would have blushed. But now that she knew the kind of person N had become, she no longer deigned herself to do so. She grudgingly thought he was beautiful though, with those beautifully green eyes, the calm and self-assured smile, his flawless pale skin and mesmerizing cheekbones. And of course, nobody could forget his most distinctive feature which was his hair that ran down his back-messy but totally sexy. When he'd faced her four years ago in the Ferris wheel, she'd nearly swooned despite the fact he was very socially awkward.

But ever since he'd suffered a crushing defeat by Touko, N had reinvented his image with such alarming alacrity that in one short half of a year the public had named him the number 1 eligible bachelor by nearly every single magazine. Not only had N turned Team Plasma into one of the greatest corporations in Unova that mostly dealt with Pokemon technology, but he was the CEO of it. And at a cool twenty-two years old, it was safe to say that every single girl in Unova, aside from the ones that really knew him, secretly hoped that they would be his next date.

This was one facet of N that had also changed. Before, he'd never really had any sort of interest in girls; Touko doubted he even knew what sex was. But with his new business image, N had suddenly become one of the biggest players of all time. It was the reason Touko had, in the end, decided to stanch her feelings for him.

"The reason I switched secretaries in the first place was because I didn't want you in here." he said getting up and towering over her by at least a head.

Touko took a step backward so that she wouldn't have to crane her neck up as much. "Oh," she said, "I assumed the reason you changed was because you got bored of looking at the other one. But this one's a lot hotter. She definitely has bigger tits."

N's eyes narrowed. "Are you assuming that I only hire my secretaries for their looks?"

Touko shrugged. "I only point out what I see. And hear." she added as an afterthought. A couple of months ago, she'd noticed that his previous secretary was absent from her desk and went on ahead. When she got to his door she'd heard the secretary making loud animal noises. Funnily enough, N hardly made a peep. Strange.

N turned away from her to glance out his office window, which was really a wall. The sun was glaring through at five o'clock in the afternoon. It was getting ready to set. "My current secretary and I have a strictly platonic business relationship." he said. "Not that it should concern you. he added silkily, turning around to face her again, the dying sunlight outlining his lithe figure. He smiled as he approached her. It wasn't a nice smile. Touko backed away from him, but he continued to advance on her until he had her backed into a corner. She pressed herself against the wall and turned her face away from him when she realized he was very nearly pressed against her. She looked down at her shoulder, unwilling to look at him this close.

His grin widened. "Does it bother you?" he said softly, as he trailed the back of his hand down her exposed cheek, ending at her jawline. He twisted his hand around so that he could cup her jaw gently. His other hand was placed next to her head against the wall.

"Does what?" Touko asked. She was finding it very difficult to breathe.

N gave a low chuckle. "Look at me, Touko," he whispered. She pretended to ignore him, but then he grasped her jaw a little more firmly and pulled so that she was close to him. "Does my... Extracurricular activities with my secretaries bother you?"

"No…" Touko said, her breathing coming out in shorter gasps.

"No?" N smirked. He let go of her jaw and let his hands brush over her neck. Touko felt bumps on her arms that had nothing to do with the cold. He leaned down so that his mouth hovered just above her ear. He lifted a strand of hair and breathed in deeply. She smelled like clean shampoo but he couldn't identify what it was. "She's very beautiful isn't she? The things I could do to her. I could fuck her all night. Maybe I already have."

Touko shivered at the way his breath caressed her skin, and closed her eyes before opening them. "No you haven't."

N's fingers, on the wall tightened to a fist. "What?" he demanded.

Touko smirked. "I said you didn't," she murmured. "Want to know how I know?"

N pulled his head back to look at her. His green eyes betrayed annoyance and curiosity. She knew he didn't want to ask but would. And sure enough, curiosity won out in the end and he said, "How do you know? Not that I'm saying you're right."

Touko laughed. She placed an arm around her neck and forced him closer so that this time her lips were against his ear. He had a good view of her cleavage if he lowered his eyes, but she didn't care. "Of course I'm right, N. Because your dear secretary is a _lesbian_."

N stepped back in shock. She almost missed the closeness they had shared previously. "What?" he said. His eyes shot to hers heatedly. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying it's true. The reason why she's not drooling all over you is because she's too busy drooling all over me. I like her," she added, stealing a glance at him. He looked absolutely furious.

"That's a lie!" N sat down on one of the plush couches that adorned his oversized office.

Touko smiled. "Whatever you say, boss. Anyway," she said, making her face grow serious. "That's not the reason I'm here."

N raised a brow. He was clearly still irritated, but he said, "Go on."

"The reason I'm here is because of this." She pulled out a stack of papers from her designer handbag and threw it at him. He caught them easily and looked over it with a casual elegance. "What the fuck are you doing, N?" she hissed. "What do you mean by doing this?"

Realization dawned over N's face as he perused the paper, a pleased look over his face. "What do you mean, my dear?"

"You've bought more than half of Nuvema Town!"

"So?" N fixed her with a look. "It's hardly your home anymore Touko. I really don't understand why this is such a horrible prospect for you."

Touko glared at him. "Are you shitting me? My mom still lives there! Not to mention Cheren's family and... and Juniper... and..."

"And your pathetic friend Belle?" N finished with a smile.

Touko was about to tell him to shut up, that Belle wasn't pathetic. But then she realized that it didn't matter because N was just trying to spite her. Besides, she no longer felt the need to defend her former best friend. "I don't care about her," she said angrily. "But these are my friends and family. It's where I got my Oshawott for goodness sake."

N rolled his eyes arrogantly. "Oh spare me the nostalgic memories, Touko of friendship and family. It will be lost on me."

Touko's voice trembled in anger when she responded, "I've never met somebody who never cared about a single person in the world. I pity you."

N's eyes slanted towards hers as he regarded her lazily. "You don't know what you're saying. You don't pity me. You just can't get enough of me."

Touko's eyebrows furrowed so much they were practically touching. "Don't be disgusting. Get away from my home town."

N's eyes appraised her as if he were thinking about it. "No." he said, narrowing his eyes. "And don't call it disgusting. You know it's true."

"No it isn't!" Touko shouted. "I would never like such a disgusting, reviling man like you. I'm engaged anyway!"

N's mouth smirked as if he were secretly mocking her. "Oh yes, you're engaged to that nerd friend of yours. Congratulations. It was all over the papers. Should I throw the wedding?"

Touko gnashed her teeth angrily. She didn't know what made her angrier; his appearance of utmost calm, the fact that he had the upper hand on her, or the fact that he didn't seem the slightest bit disturbed about her engagement with Cheren. "I don't care," she said. "Just stay away from Nuvema. I'm warning you, if you do anything at all to it, then I will defeat you again and make sure you stay down."

N yawned, covering his mouth politely. As his fingertips swept away from his lips he regarded her with an amused sort of boredom. "Yes, because that worked perfectly the first time," he responded sarcastically, then jumped to his feet. "You can't beat me Touko," he growled, facing her directly now. "No matter how many times you fight for dominance, I'll always stay on top of you," he finished in a dangerously silky voice.

The sexual innuendo was not lost on Touko, which made her blush deeply. But she forced herself to glare at him. "We'll see about that," she growled back and with that she whipped around and exited the office with a bang of the door.

N stared after her, enraged. He hated when she just did that. Acting like she owned the place, going and coming whenever she wanted! He sat at his desk heavily and linked his fingers together in front of his mouth, debilitating. After about a minute, N reached for his desk phone and pressed a button. "Jane? Yes, can you please come up. I'd like it _very _much if you were in my office in about ten minutes. No, there's nothing wrong, I just would love if you came up here. Thank you so very much."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: A Proposition

The sky was beginning to darken and Cheren still hadn't located Touko. Not that he was really looking, of course. Once he landed, he had a good idea of where she already was and he wasn't too keen on catching her while she was already there. It was likely that if she was where he thought she was, she would doubtless be in a horrible mood. Touko usually was. So Cheren bought himself a cup of green tea and wandered out to one of the docks. Because he hadn't let his Pokemon out in awhile, he called his team out and let them stroll about the area. His Unfezant went to the air while his Serperior slithered off happily.

For a moment he stretched out on the bench, enjoying the sun setting. He regretted how when he had the luxury of travelling everywhere he never took the opportunity to just stretch out. Three years ago he was just a stupid seventeen year old boy who constantly thought that fun would come later once success came. He had trained his Pokemon constantly and won most of his battles, but it still wasn't enough. Touko was the only person he could not best and it drove him crazy at first, especially considering the fact that she put as much effort as Cheren did in studying and training his Pokemon. She just seemed to have a connection with her team that Cheren had only witnessed in one other person and that was N.

But even N wasn't able to stop her. For Cheren's part, he had watched their final battle on the sidelines with Alder and he often wondered whether or not N had lost the battle on purpose because Touko had seemed to beat him with ease. No, he corrected himself quickly. She hadn't _just _beat him. She had dominated him.

He sipped at the last of his green tea thoughtfully as a calm night's wind blew through his black hair. His Liepard brushed himself against his legs and Cheren gave him a careless scratch on the head as he stood up. He called back all of his Pokemon, save for the Liepard who followed him at his heels, quiet as his own shadow.

Normally, Cheren would have let his Serperior travel with him for protection, but the snake-like Pokemon hated crowded areas and Castelia City was a place that didn't sleep. He exited the docks and headed towards their condo. It was late, he thought, and Touko was sure to be back by now.

As he fumbled for his key and finally managed to get the door open in their upscale condo that they shared together, he noted that he was indeed correct about his fiancé. Touko was in her pajamas, her hair out of its up-do. A scowl had settled on her face as she glared at their flat screen that was currently on some comedy sitcom. Doubtless it was probably a rerun of _How I Met Your Kangaskhan_ or _Ugly Trubbish_. Cheren wouldn't know. He hardly found time to watch television.

"Oh," she grumbled upon noting his appearance. "It's you."

"That's a nice way of saying 'hello.'" Cheren said, moving towards the bathroom to change. He dared to ask, "What happened?"

Touko said nothing; another nasty sign that the Champion had indeed had a war of words with N and predictably lost. Cheren splashed water on his face and brushed his teeth before coming out in his own set of loose-fitting pajamas. As he stepped out onto the carpeted floor and into the main room where Touko sat on their leather couch, her legs drawn up to her face, he noted that the coffee table in front of her was scattered with papers. He frowned. If there was one thing he absolutely could not tolerate about Touko it was her messiness. Their apartment was kept spotless because of Cheren and thankfully Touko was usually out enough to not mess it up. However, there were days like now that she'd mess it up within one night and Cheren would have to be the one to tidy up afterward.

_Maybe they should hire a maid…_

He sat down next to her and began to shuffle the papers in an orderly fashion when his eyes slid over the letters. The dim glow of the TV provided just enough light for him to catch a few words. Over the witty dialogue going on in _Ugly Trubbish_ he carefully read over the first page, his mouth slowly falling open with each sentence.

"Touko... What is this?"

"What do you think?" she asked, finally facing him, turning the television to a mute.

Cheren looked into her blue eyes and was surprised. It had been three years since he'd seen the look of uncertainty on her face. It scared him.

"He _bought _more than half of Nuvema? Is that even possible?"

Touko shrugged her shoulders wearily and leaned back onto the couch in defeat, her shoulders slumping. "Apparently it is. I just don't know what it means. Why would he do it? What could Nuvema possibly have that he sees in it?" she bemoaned and faced him with a lost expression on her face. "What is he planning?"

Cheren avoided her eyes - He didn't know himself, and looking at Touko's face increased his nervousness with each second. He hadn't seen Touko this scared after she'd beaten N. He put an arm around her shoulder and drew her into him in a comforting embrace.

"I don't know, Touko. But we can't just let it go."

* * *

N stared at the ceiling. He always had a hard time sleeping at night. Mostly he didn't bother, preferring to take several mini naps during the day time. But now he was especially awake.

He turned his head towards Jane, or rather Vivian as she had suddenly inexplicably requested he called her when he'd started to take her clothes off. He didn't know why, but he had a sneaking suspicion the name change had to do with Touko.

Vivian had fallen asleep right after he'd climaxed and rolled far away from him. At first, he was pleased thinking Touko was wrong, that she'd only said Vivian was gay to spite him. After all, hadn't he managed to have sex with her? But in the aftermath, he noted the way she had moved away from him and had hardly seemed into it. Her eyes weren't focused, and her moans seemed perfunctory. She'd lain like a dead fish underneath her until he was done. He wasn't even sure if she climaxed or not.

On the whole, it wasn't a very pleasurable night, N thought. Unwilling to stay in bed, he got up, drawing a pair of boxers on and his pants. He had to scrounge around before he finally located his shirt and he buttoned it up carefully. Then he walked towards the kitchen to get a glass of water. After quenching his thirst in the darkness, he went back to his room and drew out a Pokeball from his trainer belt which was locked in his bedside table before going up to the roof.

It was cool and damp out, the way you'd expect it to be at 2:45 in the morning. He closed his eyes then pressed the button on his Pokeball. Red light shot out of it and a massive, majestic Pokemon was released, stretching its wings into the air. It let out a mournful cry and its beautiful blue eyes swept towards N reverently.

"Reshiram." he greeted quietly. Even after all this time, he was still in awe of the legendary Pokemon. When he was a child, just seeing a new Pokemon made him want to cry in joy. It evoked deep feelings within him. But as he grew older, Ghetsis had harshly told him never to cry, it was weak to do so.

It had been a long time since he'd seen Ghetsis though. His adopted father had disappeared when Touko defeated him afterward. The sages had no idea of his whereabouts. If anybody knew, it was the Shadow Triad, and they were not apt to divulge any secrets of their master easily. In the days following N's crushing defeat, the green-haired boy had desperately sought out the only person he'd viewed as a parent, but Ghetsis was truly gone.

This was a source of both comfort and loss. Comfort, because Ghetsis had always made him feel inadequate and without him, N was allowed to develop into a strong young man with the assistance of his governesses, Concordia and Anthea. But it was a loss because Ghetsis had also shown him rare bouts of love and was his only family still alive. It was Ghetsis after all, who had introduced him to Pokemon at such an early age and if it wasn't for Ghetsis's introducing him at such an early age, perhaps N wouldn't have the ability to speak to Pokemon at all.

He thought about what Touko had said, him not having any family or friends to care about. The comment was designed to anger him, but he had honestly felt nothing. It was better this way, he decided, as he stroked Reshiram's neck with his long fingers. Humans were the worst. They were unpredictable, greedy and selfish. Pokemon were the opposite. They were loving, giving, and he always understood them.

"Please allow me to fly on your back, Reshiram." he whispered to the legendary creature. It bowed its head in acknowledgement and as N mounted the great beast, it let out a shriek and began to flap its mighty wings to take off into the air.

He hoped he could prove himself wrong.

* * *

It was 3:30 in the morning when Belle had finally finished her work at Juniper's. She had to stay awake until 1 in the morning noting a Patrat's behavior before compiling some notes. She'd finally finished her report and was now heading her way to her mother's house.

She felt a pang of guilt as she approached the modest home she shared with her mother. Belle was the only one amongst the trio who had decided to stay in Nuvema Town, but that didn't mean she stayed there a lot. She mostly travelled for Professor Juniper's research. If she had to guess, she was only in Nuvema Town for half a year tops.

She never expected to come back to Nuvema. If truth be told, she had wanted to move to Opelucid City. The old grandeur of the area had held an allure that she could not shake off and she'd already looked into a beautiful apartment that overlooked the gym. Cheren, she knew, wanted to stay in Nimbasa next to the Battle Subway and Touko had taken to Castelia City.

But this had changed when Cheren and Touko announced to the press that they were getting married. After that, Cheren had moved to Castelia City without a backward glance. Belle remembered reading the papers that day, feeling shocked. It had come out of the blue. Cheren hadn't mentioned that he'd been dating Touko at all which left Belle feeling betrayed. She would never tell Cheren that she'd been in love with him ever since they were kids (Not that it mattered since he had guessed accurately that she'd had feelings for him,) but she remembered that day with perfect clarity. She had called him up and he confirmed it quietly as if he knew she was hurt and angry. After he'd hung up, Belle spent the rest of the day feeling numb and not even her Emboar could warm her up. The next day she had cried inconsolably the whole day.

Her mother stared on. Ever since Belle's father's death, her mother had fallen into a deep depression, causing Belle to move back to Nuvema to be with her. Her mother had attempted suicide once already, and if it wasn't for Mrs. White, who had decided to finally return the measuring cup that she'd borrowed years ago, Belle was highly aware that she might not even have a mother at all.

So she stayed in Nuvema as much as she could. She was lucky that Mrs. White and Cheren's parents, the Arais, had also agreed to watch over Mrs. Fontaine while she was gone. And Professor Juniper too. She was grateful to all of them.

As quietly as she could, she unlocked the door not wanting to disturb her mother. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Mrs. Fontaine usually slept most of her days away now. It was not until she began to open the door, she realized the lights were on and her mother, whose face had aged a decade in the span of a year was laughing out loud at something a tall man with long pale green hair had just said.

A chill ran through her. "Mother?" she said.

Mrs. Fontaine looked around at Belle, a ghost of a laugh still etched on her face. Belle couldn't remember the last time her mother had smiled, let alone laughed. "Belle, your friend has been waiting for you for a while now! Where have you been?"

"Working," Belle responded, carefully surveying N who had gotten up from the couch at her voice. N was definitely no friend of Belle's. In fact, she had never spoken a word to him, though she'd certainly heard about him a lot through Touko when they were still friends.

A lot of what Touko said about him back then seemed to contradict the present image N held today. Touko had described N as attractive, but socially awkward. "He talks so fast it was hard to understand him at first," Touko had said. "And he has this innocent sort of aura surrounding him."

"He doesn't sound like a bad guy," Belle remembered saying. "How could he be the head of such an evil group like Team Plasma?"

Touko had shaken her head in confusion. "I really don't know. Maybe he doesn't even know what Plasma's doing. He does think Pokemon should be completely free though, and when he goes on about it, I sometimes even _believe _him."

"You can't be serious!"

Touko had laughed uncertainly. "Of course not... Except... I don't think he's truly a bad person."

The N that stood before Belle now was eons different from Touko's descriptions. He dressed in semi-formal attire, his green hair smoothed down and his cool eyes were regarding her with a carefully casual sort of interest. He looked utterly confident and clever and he looked, well... Amazing.

"Belle, it has been quite some time," he said smoothly, unfazed by the wary look she'd given him. "You're looking well."

Belle almost laughed out loud. "Well" was a complete lie. Belle hadn't done anything to her appearance except overwork herself and become a recluse. But she doubted N would know that. She was surprised that he even knew who she was at all. Perhaps Touko had mentioned him to her once or twice. Belle scowled inwardly. Whatever Touko had told him was probably a lie and she had probably painted her in a negative light. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

N gave her a velvety smile which made the blonde girl blush; he certainly knew how to do that well, Belle thought wryly. She'd read the magazines and Celebrity blogs that always had N photographed with a different attractive girl. "I was wondering if we could have a brief chat in private. Catch up, you know. It has been awhile since we last talked."

Belle arched an eyebrow. _Awhile? Try maybe forever?_ Her eyes darted towards her mother who seemed entranced by N. Whatever he'd told Mrs. Fontaine had brought her in high spirits. As much as she hated to admit it, she owed him one. Belle sighed. She was too damn nice. "O-of course," she stammered.

"Wonderful," N said briskly, shoving a hand into his pocket. He strode towards the front door and opened it like he owned the place. Belle scurried ahead of him and he closed the door behind them, Mrs. Fontaine looking on after them.

Dew was just beginning to form on the grass. Belle rubbed her eyes tiredly and waited for N to catch up to her. Now in the darkness, she suddenly realized how stupid she was for going out with a man she hardly knew in the darkness. Reassuringly, she put a hand in her purse where six Pokeballs lay. Belle may not have been the best trainer, but her Pokemon were somewhat strong. She'd managed to beat Cheren a few times before and once had come close to even beating Touko.

"I must thank you for bearing with my little exaggeration inside your house," N said, breaking the silence. He seemed unaware of Belle's timidity, or if he was aware of it, he chose to ignore it. "I hardly know you, but I doubted your mother would have let you go out with a strange man."

Belle relaxed slightly. "I doubt that. She seems to like you and she hardly notices me..." she said, trailing off. Her mother hardly spoke a word to her these days.

"She seems to be a lovely woman," N said as diplomatically as he could. He clasped his hands behind his back as they began to stroll around Nuvema. "This is a quaint town. Strange that Touko came from here. I find it strange even that your friend Cheren came here. But you seem to fit in just fine."

Belle said nothing, unsure of how to continue. She used to be great at conversation, being the hyper bubbly person she was. But now she chose her words with a lot more care. Unless it was Cheren who always managed to somehow irritate her.

"Where do you see yourself in five years, Belle?"

Belle's eyes slanted towards him. "I don't know," she confessed. "And even if I did, I don't think I'd tell you."

N smirked. "Why? Don't you trust me?"

Belle thought back to the N she knew from the past and compared him to the present one that was standing before her now. "I'd have to be completely insane to trust you fully," she finally said.

N's smirk broadened. He chuckled in amusement.

"What's so funny?" Belle demanded. "Did I say something stupid?"

N shook his head, the shadows of the dark making it hard to interpret the expression on his face. Overhead, a Woobat let out a squeak. "No, Belle. On the contrary, you've said something very wise. I expected somebody completely different. I'm pleasantly surprised."

Belle raised her eyebrows at him. "What were you expecting?"

"A very naive airhead with no real ambitions on life," N said candidly.

Belle opened her mouth in shock that he was being honest with her. "Well you got a one out of three," she said, gloomily. "I'm doomed to remain Professor Juniper's assistant for the rest of my life if I don't figure something else out."

N looked at her curiously. "Do you enjoy your work?"

Belle shrugged. "Well, it's not glamorous but I like it. I can't stay in this position forever though. I don't get that much pay and whatever I get is usually geared towards travel costs."

N nodded as if he understood, but Belle hardly thought that was possible. The great N had always lived in the lap of luxury even after his defeat. It seemed like wealth and status were attracted to _him _and not the other way around. How could N understand that she was struggling to pay the bills of the house? They had reached the mouth of Route 1 and N looked off into the tall grass, an expression of deep thought crossing over his face.

"N?"

"Mmm?" he said, startled out of his thoughts.

"Why are you really here?" Belle said. She breathed in deeply for courage. "She's not... She's not here, you know. She hasn't been in Nuvema for a long time." It was the first time Belle had brought up Touko herself.

Apparently N wasn't expecting her to either. The smallest expression of surprise flickered over his face for a brief moment. But before Belle could really be sure of what she'd seen, his face was back to that casual, calm face. "I didn't come to see Touko if that is indeed who you are talking about."

"Then who?" Belle asked.

"I came to see you, of course. I thought that was perfectly clear."

"But I hardly know you!" Belle blurted out.

N smiled. "Ah, Belle. It's true, we've never formally met. But I'm sure we both know each other very well through Touko. She has told me a little bit about you and I am sure that she's told you a little about me."

Belle blushed, thankful that it was dark so he couldn't see it. "She hardly mentioned you at all," she murmured.

N chuckled. "You don't need to protect her, but I find it hard to believe she hardly made a peep about me."

"Well she didn't mention your lack of modesty, that's for sure," Belle shot back.

N laughed out loud this time, much to her surprise. Was everything she said amusing to him? She waited for N's laughter to die down which did after a couple of seconds. "Well, Touko also failed to mention that you had some cheeky responses."

"She didn't know about it. We stopped speaking to each other."

N's face grew serious as he faced her. "What happened between you both?"

Belle turned away from him, a lump forming in her throat. "I don't want to talk about it," she said, swallowing her hurt. The only person who fully understood what had happened was Cheren and he had abandoned Belle for Touko. Just thinking about his betrayal made her heart clench and unclench painfully. It was selfish of her, but the fact that Cheren chose Touko over Belle made her hate Touko even more. She felt guilty for feeling this, especially since it wasn't Touko's fault that Cheren had chosen her in the end

"Fair enough, I won't press," N responded, holding up his hands in defense. "Well, I suppose I should tell you why I'm here to see you then." He was suddenly business-like and formal.

Belle turned around to face him again. "So we finally get to the mysterious reason then?" she asked lightly.

N smiled but it suddenly looked stiff and unnatural. For the first time that evening, Belle could see the N that Touko had described. He extended an arm and, giving a light cough said, "It would be an honor of mine if we could become friends."

Belle's eyes were trained on his long yet slim white hands. They were not like her's which were small and stubby with many callouses from fieldwork. "Is this a joke?"

N's eyes looked confused. "It is most decidedly not. I am interested in pursuing a friendship with you. That is, if you'll have me."

Belle couldn't help it; she laughed out loud, her shoulders heaving up and down. N still had his hand extended by the time she was done. She was still lightly chuckling when she said, "You don't have many friends, do you?"

N didn't respond, and in the darkness Belle couldn't read him but she knew that he was embarrassed. Suddenly she felt guilty for laughing at him. She realized that what she said might have offended him, because it was probably true, and besides who was she to talk? Her only friend right now was Cheren and even he was slowly withdrawing from her life. Slowly she extended her own hand and grasped his cold one warmly. "It's okay," she said soothingly. "I don't have any friends either."

Almost immediately, N withdrew his hand. "I don't require pity."

Belle sighed. This was certainly weird. But she still had to get one thing out of her mind. "N, but why me? You could have asked anyone. Your Plasma grunts, or... or Touko, or Cheren or... you know so many people."

"Do I?" N said, ducking his head and smiling at the ground. "I am afraid that Touko and I hardly get along and Cheren..." he had retained some of his casual arrogance when mentioning his name. "Is quite a boring person to be around to be quite frank. He is too obsessed with power and image."

"Cheren?" Belle asked, surprised. "He's not like that. Not anymore," she said quickly.

N scoffed, "You really think so?" But he did not elaborate. "I hope you do not disappoint me, Belle."

Belle shuddered when he said that. There was something distinctly ominous in his voice. Like a dog who had been kicked one too many times and was going to lash out if it was hurt just once more. Once again, she wondered what she'd done by "accepting" his friendship. She frowned. "That's not how a friendship works, N. You don't get to threaten me."

N turned to face her. He smiled a smile that did not quite match his voice. "Of course, how rude of me. I did not mean to threaten, but now it is getting late. I must be off. Oh, and Belle? Do me a favor. Friends do favors for one another, am I correct?" He took out a Pokeball and pressed the white button. In a flash, Reshiram appeared. Belle gasped in shock at the majestic Pokemon as it stretched its neck, more elegant than a Swanna's into the air. She'd seen Zekrom up close of course back when Touko and she were still the best of friends but where Zekrom was hard, tough and dangerous, Reshiram was elegant, beautiful and angelic looking. N coughed politely, drawing her attention back to him. "Belle? The favor?"

Belle was still dazed. "Yes, but it depends on what it is..." she said slowly.

"Watch over Nuvema for me, won't you? As a friend, I must put my faith in you to watch over the place."

"Okay, but why?" Belle asked puzzled.

"Why, I own most of it now," he responded cheerfully as he mounted Reshiram. He didn't give her a chance to respond before Reshiram was off in a flash. She watched the legendary Pokemon speed off into the sky with breathtaking acceleration.

"What? What just happened?" Belle whispered to herself, confused.

* * *

Sunlight was streaming through the curtains when Touko finally woke up. That was strange. She was usually an early bird but she supposed it had to do with the fact that she hardly got any rest last night. She'd spent hours with Cheren trying to come up with a plan to counter N's efforts.

"The fact of the matter is that right now we can't compete with him," Cheren finally had said. "He's too rich."

"But how is it legal to own a town?" Touko asked.

Cheren frowned. "Strictly speaking it's not. But he bought everything associated with Nuvema. The roads, not to mention he bought out Juniper's benefactors so he can control what she researches and what she doesn't. The only thing he doesn't own are the houses themselves and that's because they're under private ownership."

Touko dug her hands into her scalp and pulled at her hair. "But why?" she'd said over and over. "Why is he doing this?"

Cheren was quiet for a moment. Then he had said hesitantly, "Maybe it has to do with you."

Touko sighed, thinking about the memory. She ran a hand down her face, not wanting to think about it. Today was going to be a busy day. As the new Champion, she had to face at least three challengers. Before that, she and Cheren had an interview scheduled on _Good Morning Unova_ that was scheduled at eleven o'clock. Sometimes, being famous sucked.

Speaking of time... Touko glanced at her clock and yelped. It was already nine! Swearing under her breath, she got out and quickly showered and dressed. When she got out of her room, she was surprised to see Cheren already dressed and reading the newspaper.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" she asked, annoyed.

Cheren took a sip of tea calmly. "I thought that extra sleep would make you lose the bad attitude. Clearly, I was wrong."

Touko wanted to lash out at him, but knew that Cheren was not at fault for N's discrepancies. Besides, it seemed like Cheren was the only person who she could count on nowadays. She sighed, slumping her shoulders. "Sorry," she said in a small voice.

"It's okay," Cheren responded indifferently. "Breakfast's on the table."

After Touko had fixed herself a plate of scrambled eggs (She was glad that Cheren was a great cook; she could hardly cook anything to save her life) she munched through the eggs slowly, savoring the taste. "So," she began casually. "Did you um, hear from anyone in Unova?"

Cheren, who was reading the newspaper did not look up at her. "Like I said earlier, your mom."

"Besides her," Touko said, trying not to think about the fact that she hadn't heard her mother's voice in weeks.

"My own parents called last week."

"And?" Touko pressed.

Cheren fixed her with his calm, yet firm gaze. "If you're asking about Belle, you know I'm not going to respond."

Touko looked down in shame. There was silence between them for a few moments but then she said, "Cheren, please..."

Cheren didn't respond for a long time. But eventually he sighed and he said. "She's fine."

Touko breathed out. "I haven't seen her..."

"I said she's fine, Touko. I'm not going to elaborate anymore."

Touko's shoulders slumped some more but she didn't press Cheren. It scared her to do it. She finished her eggs and put her dish in the sink without washing it, much to Cheren's disapproval. Afterwards, they walked towards the building where _Good Morning Unova _was held.

There, Touko was greeted with a make up prep team who scolded her for being late. "Dear, when was the last time you moisturized your skin?"

Touko rolled her eyes as they caked her face with make up and did something to her hair that made it look more full and as glossy as the hair she saw in shampoo advertisements. She picked up a magazine to leaf through the process, but when she saw N on the front cover with that arrogant smirk on his face she nearly threw it away. _Prick_, she thought savagely.

"Is something the matter, dear?" one of her hair stylists asked, upon noting the way Touko had dropped it.

"Erm... Nothing," Touko responded sheepishly. "I've just already read this one."

She wondered if N managed to bed Vivian that night. It made her stomach crawl to think about it even though she was almost positive that his newest secretary wasn't interested in men. She knew that if N pressed Vivian, she would willingly give herself up to him in order to keep her job. She wrinkled her nose disgustedly. It was almost akin to rape, really, no matter how beautiful the man was. Ugh, did she really say that? She hastily wiped the thought from her mind.

"A word of advice, honey. _Don't _do that when you're on air. You look like a pig."

Touko rolled her eyes. "I'll remember that, thanks."

Five minutes before the scheduled interview was to begin she met Cheren whose hair had been slicked back and was in an extremely well fitting gray suit. His glasses had been traded for some stylishly thick framed ones. His eyes were trained on the paper in front of him, the one that contained all the interview questions that they would be asked and he was rocking back and forth. She grinned. Cheren was definitely not suited for television. He looked extremely nervous. As if he noticed Touko was watching him, he glanced up and their eyes met.

"Ready?" she asked.

Cheren sighed. "Not really, but I guess we have to get this over with."

He stood up. He was slightly taller than her, not quite as tall as N, but he was almost there. She had to wonder when Cheren had transformed from an extremely annoying know-it-all to this man who had just offered his arm to her. Of course, she would always see him as that kind of boy who didn't make friends easily (And still didn't) but it was clear that he'd grown up a lot over the past few years. She decided that she liked it.

She took his arm and to the applause, they walked towards the set where Kinsey and her cohost Tevin were sitting comfortably on the white couch. She exchanged hugs and kisses with Kinsey and Tevin before she and Cheren took a seat on the couch. Touko remembered at the last moment to cross her legs in a ladylike position. She was quite proud of herself for remembering that. Beside her, Cheren had clasped his hands together as hard as he could so that he wouldn't fidget with them. Touko gave him a reassuring smile that seemed to say _Relax._

He returned it nervously and their shared look was not lost on Kinsey who sighed.

"Ah, young love," she said. "Don't you just love watching it, Tevin?"

Tevin laughed. "It does warm my heart."

Touko smiled, and clasped Cheren's hand which was already clammy and stiff. "Our history is pretty deep actually."

"Is that so?" Kinsey said. "Can you tell us the story of how you two met?"

Cheren smiled stiffly. "Well, I was four when Touko moved in from Sinnoh."

Touko laughed. "And he hated me from the start!"

Kinsey and Tevin laughed along with her. "Was it because of your cooties?"

Touko smiled vaguely. "Something like that." The truth was that four year old Cheren was extremely bossy and when their parents had brought them all together to force them to play, Cheren would play by himself while letting Belle and Touko do their own thing which was usually playing in the sandbox. By the time Belle had figured out that _they_ weren't the problem, that it was simply the fact that Cheren hated getting dirty, Touko had already decided she wouldn't like Cheren. It was on Belle's insistence that they befriend Cheren and now that Touko thought about it, she was glad that she'd stuck by him.

Kinsey moved on to the next topic. "So now that the public knows of yours and Cheren's engagement, what's next on your plate Touko? Any big projects?"

Touko shrugged. "Well, we are planning on hosting a charity banquet in order to raise enough money for the expansion of the Day Care. Cheren and I, as well as Grimsley, Elesa and Burgh will be there. I'm sure Shauntal will also be doing a reading of her newest book _The Beautifly Effect_ which I have to say is quite an interesting story. I managed to squeeze a few chapters out of her and I was already begging for more!" Cheren tried not to snort. This was also a lie on Touko's part. She hated reading. It was Cheren who had read the chapters and pronounced it read-worthy.

"Exciting!" Kinsey responded, a wide grin splitting her face. "And what about N? Will he be donating?"

Touko gave a hard smile; to the public it looked like she was genuinely happy to respond to this question. "You know? The other day I was _just_ talking to him and he said he wasn't certain whether he'd be able to make it." Truthfully, Touko didn't want N to come. Every time they were in the same room Touko wanted to slap him across the face. As it was however, bringing N to the charity event would certainly increase sales for tickets. Everyone wanted to be in the same room as the region's wealthiest tycoon who was also, as far as Touko knew, was elusive and friendless. The only time N ever spoke was at press conferences. He hardly did interviews and if he did, they were usually for magazines or they were one comment answers towards the paparazzi.

"That's quite a shame, if he couldn't," Kinsey responded in fake sympathy (Which was all she knew how to do with all the Botox injected in her face) before brightening again. "Well, time is almost up, but before you go I'm sure our audience would love it if you and Cheren would share a kiss on screen."

"W-what?" Cheren blurted, gulping down.

Tevin chuckled. "Oh you know, the paps never seem to get you in a compromising position, you know how it is. In fact, we rarely see you two together at all."

"We like keeping our relationship private," Touko said smoothly.

"But you two are on air now. What's the worst that can happen?" Kinsey pressed. Suddenly, she didn't look so warm to Touko anymore. She just looked like an annoying reporter. And now that she'd pressed it, Touko knew she couldn't refuse. Refusing meant that Cheren and her were hiding something.

So she sighed and rolled her eyes good-naturedly, as if she did this all the time. "Of course, if you insist," she responded. She faced Cheren who had turned deathly pale. Touko took his hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze as if to say, _It's only me_.

Cheren gave a painful swallow and leaned in towards her, hoping that his guilty and apologetic look could only be seen by Touko. He put a numb hand on the side of her face to hold it in place and finally pressed his cold lips against her's.

A collective sigh came from the audience, but for Cheren and Touko, they felt like it was all a sham.

Probably, because it was.

* * *

Belle hadn't expected N to call on her only twelve hours later, but he did.

_"Have you seen Good Morning Unova, yet?"_ His voice crackled through Belle's XTransceiver. Her reception was exceptionally bad on the shores of Route 1. He hadn't even said hello.

"Good afternoon to you too. No, I slept through it. I was up all night making friends," she said with a trace of sarcasm in her voice. "Besides, who even has the time to watch it?" She briefly wondered how N had managed to get her number, but then realized that probably all wealthy and powerful people had their means of getting what they wanted. Like registering Belle's contact number.

N ignored her. _"Maybe you should." _There was something in his voice that sounded serious and also irritable. Belle frowned and brought the watch up to her face so she could look at N's face.

"Why?" she asked, looking at N's face who, when he realized she was trying to get a glimpse at his face, smoothed it over.

_"Your friend Cheren and Touko were both on it, cuddling away and generally being disgusting. Touko basically said that I wasn't allowed to go to her little Charity Event that she's throwing. I think it's in Nimbasa City."_

Belle's heart stung when she heard N say, "cuddling away." But she didn't want N to know that she was probably going to spend all afternoon crying her eyes out over the _Good Morning Unova_ interview. She didn't know exactly what was on it yet, but she knew that whatever it was would probably make her withdraw into the world. Such was the life of a over sensitive girl. "Why should I care that Touko disinvited you to her Charity Event?"

_"Because you're my friend, remember?" _he gently admonished. Oh yeah, she'd forgotten about that little handshake.

"N... Friendships don't really work that way..." she began. She felt extremely ridiculous explaining the rules of "friendship" to somebody as powerful as N. You just didn't demand your friend to care about you. It had to come naturally.

But he cut in, _"I'm not in the mood to be lectured on how friendships work, Belle. I simply came up with a proposition that could benefit us both."_

"Oh?" Belle asked curiously.

_"Don't pretend you don't have feelings for Cheren. I know you do."_

"Th-that's ridiculous!" Belle stammered. "You don't know me!"

_"You're pretty transparent about it, Belle Fontaine. But don't you want to do something about it?"_

"What can I do? The more I cling, the more he'll stay away," Belle admitted, without thinking. Then she realized who she was talking to and said, "H-hey! Don't go repeating all of this to anyone, you hear? Friends don't do that!"

_"Of course not. Discretion is my middle name. But in exchange for my trust, you'll have to do something for _me_._ _Be my date."_

Belle's mouth fell open. "What?! Did you not just hear what I said? Forget that, didn't you hear what _you _just said about me and Cheren?"

_"I did, my dear. I'll explain more later, but for now I've got to go."_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three - The Beginning of a Transformation

Touko wasn't a big fan of Nimbasa City. The first time she'd been here, she'd been entranced by the whole place with its amusement park, the massive stadiums, the theater not to mention the Battle Subway. Elesa's Gym spoke for itself. For Arceus's sake, it was a freakin' roller coaster park!

But the place now held painful memories. For one, this was the place where she had first learned the truth about N and resolved to be his enemy forever. That Ferris Wheel... Her thoughts drifted off as she watched the wheel turn over and over in an endless cycle of memories. She had thought back then, rather foolishly that N was taking her out on a spontaneous date. Her first one. But that had all changed when he explained that it was _he_ who was ruler of Team Plasma and not Ghetsis.

That had shocked Touko more than anything, for the older green haired man seemed to be the one behind all of Plasma's evil doing.

"How can you allow them to steal Pokemon from their trainers?" she'd asked, her eyes staring wide at him in shock.

"Howcanyouletthembeenslavedby people?"

"What?" Touko had asked. She wasn't entirely used to the quick, nervous way he talked yet. N had repeated his question with halting pauses.

"How... canyou... let. The Pokemon. Be. Enslaved. By... By p-people?"

Touko smiled at the memory. That was the N she had been drawn to, curiously enough. In many ways, his innocence and nervousness were very endearing to Touko. She'd felt this insatiable need to protect him, to teach him about the world, and to teach him what was good in the world.

But she had failed the moment she'd defeated him in battle. She'd won the overall war, but she'd lost her own personal battle with N. From that day onward, he distanced himself from her and it had hurt her in so many ways.

The Ferris Wheel was just a reminder that N had rebuilt himself to be the very person Touko hated. Arrogant, cool, unrelateable. And just w_hat _was he doing with Nuvema? She wondered not for the first time and she felt with each growing second that time was running out.

Her memory with N wasn't the only reason Touko disliked Nimbasa. She also remembered that this was the day that Belle had stood up to her father, Mr. Fontaine, for the first time. Touko sighed. Mr. Fontaine was extremely overprotective of his daughter and she still remembered the angry expression of his when he finally found Belle and figured out she wasn't coming home anytime soon.

Elesa had finally intruded on the scene and had told Mr. Fontaine off. While Belle thanked Elesa, Touko couldn't help but wonder about Mr. Fontaine's overprotectiveness. Why had he been so overprotective over his daughter?

This was the question that Touko regretted thinking. She wished that she had never asked the question, wished she'd never found the answer to it. She swallowed painfully, looking off into the distance.

"Cotton candy?" Cheren asked delicately, proffering the light blue treat to her. He was holding a pink one in his other hand. She accepted it gratefully and tore a chunk off with her teeth. She felt the sugary sweetness melt against her tongue as she stared at the massive fountains. "You seem awfully quiet."

Touko shrugged moodily. A couple of laughing children ran past them and Touko turned away from them in case they noticed her and begged a photo or something. She wasn't in the mood. "I hate it here."

Cheren's mouth was full of cotton candy so he couldn't respond immediately. But once it had all melted away he said, "We could do the Ball somewhere else."

Touko shook her head. "No, the theater is the perfect place to hold it. It's upscale and its party hall is perfect to hold a charity ball. We have to do it here."

"If you say so. You're not upset at... at what happened at the interview right?" Cheren asked carefully. He avoided her eyes when he asked and tried his hardest not to turn red.

Touko shook her head and chuckled. "It's honestly the last thing on my mind right now, Cheren. Besides, I know that we had to do what was necessary. It could never be real. You're too... You're too good for me."

Cheren's heart sank, but he refused to show it. In many ways, Belle was right. Cheren was disappointed that Touko could never return his feelings. She was everything he desired in a woman. He wanted somebody strong, stubborn and hard to tie down. Touko was a challenge that Cheren strove to rise to. So he laughed, and sucked the excess sugar from his fingers and once he was done he said. "You're right. It couldn't." Because Touko would always be better than him.

He stared at his XTransceiver. Ever since that day that Belle and him had argued five days ago, she hadn't called him back to apologize or even to admonish him further. He frowned. That was strange. She usually called at least once in two days. He thought once or twice about calling to apologize; after all he had crossed the line as well. But then he remembered her accusations, the way she'd read into his fears so deeply, and stubbornly decided against it. No, he thought savagely, let _her _apologize to _him. _That was the way things worked here. Plus, he was busy trying to organize the Charity Ball which was taking place in two weeks and since Touko was usually by his side nowadays, there wouldn't be enough time to take a call from her anyway. He tended not to talk to her when Touko was around. He knew that Touko would jump all over him and try to talk to her.

Still, he thought, as he glanced at the blank screen of his watch. He hoped she was okay.

* * *

"Why does it have to be such a secret?" Belle asked, rolling her eyes. She had used her Musharna to teleport to the mouth of Skyarrow Bridge and immediately was ushered into one of N's private company cars. She felt like it had been the mafia, the way they'd dragged her in with no questions or answers.

"Because, I want it to be a complete surprise," N responded, tapping his finger against his knee carelessly. "I thought we went over this. If you want to catch Cheren completely unawares, you will have to make no mention of it that we are acquainted let alone that you will be attending the ball."

Belle scowled and crossed her arms, looking out of the heavily laminated windows. They were so dark that she could hardly see where they were. "This is stupid," she said. "Then why didn't you just leave me at Nuvema until that day? I have dresses and make up. I could dress myself up."

The corner of N's mouth twitched downward, but other than that he gave no indication that he was growing irritated with her questions. "You've never interacted with the upper class. And," he said his eyes raking over her critically. "Your appearance could use a lot of work."

Ouch. This friendship with N kind of hurt. "So you're going to help me?"

The car entered a garage next to the Plasma Inc. building and began winding its way upward. He snorted, casually inspecting his fingernails. "Hardly. I have help for that."

"Oh." Belle fidgeted in her seat and tried not to look contrite at the fact that N had practically kidnapped her and now evidently didn't even have time to help her out. Why, oh why had she agreed to do this again?

"Don't worry," he said, noting her frown. "The help I'm giving you is amongst the very best. They've coached me my whole life and I'm sure you'll get along with them just fine."

Belle tried not to think about the fact that these were the people had brought up N who was evil, awkward and stubborn. Rather than reassuring her, N had only furthered her fear.

* * *

"So, how do you like it?" The theater owner looked at Touko who glanced around at the ballroom that was held at the topmost floor of the theater. She had to say, she was impressed. It could have held about five hundred people with a ballroom dance floor. Off to the side, there was a stage that could easily fit a quartet as well as a podium for all the speakers. Above, there were several crystal-heavy chandeliers that glimmered brightly against the dim lighting.

Cheren adopted a stony look, the kind he used when he bartered. "I do believe we can do better at half the cost. Don't you agree, my dear?"

"Huh?" Touko asked, snapping out of her reverie. She could easily imagine the centerpieces. They would be either Roselias or Lilligants in the center, she hadn't decided yet.

"The lady seems to like it," the owner said, throwing a disgusted look at Cheren. "My waiters are also top notch. We've not had an accident in fifteen years."

Cheren nudged Touko in the ribs who coughed and tried to look smooth about it. "Yes, well, I'm sure we've seen better in Driftveil."

"Driftveil?" he responded disgustedly. "That old hick town?"

Touko raised an eyebrow, seeing her opportunity to lower the cost. "Clay was planning on attending. Do you think he'd take it kindly if I passed along your comments?"

The owner waved his hands up in defense. "Th-that's not what I meant! I only meant... Well... That is, if you would take a twenty percent discount, maybe we can forget this whole ordeal." He looked quite desperate.

"Make it fifty percent," Cheren said flatly.

"Fifty it is!" the theater owner responded, looking relieved. "Let me go prepare the papers." He left in a hurry, leaving Touko and Cheren alone in the vast hall.

"I love it," she sighed looking at the high ceiling. "It's perfect, Cheren."

_You are perfect, _he wanted to tell her, but the words would not come to his lips. He was too much of a coward, too nice to say that. Instead, he turned away and said, "Yes, and at a considerable discount too."

Touko giggled. "Oh c'mon, It's beautiful and you know it, so lighten up! It's always business with you, Cher."

Cheren rolled his eyes at her stupid nickname. Okay, so maybe she wasn't all that perfect, but still... His XTransceiver began to ring. _Belle, _he thought. _Well, it's about damn time too. _"Give me a moment, Touko."

He stepped away from her curious looks so that he was away from eavesdropping distance before he pressed the button. It wasn't Belle though. "T-Touya!" He stammered. "Long time no talk."

Touya's face scowled at Cheren; They'd never gotten along. "Yeah, yeah, where's Touko?" he snapped.

"She's here, why?" Cheren asked cautiously.

"She hasn't been picking up my calls. That's why I had to call you."

Cheren knew that Touya, Touko's twin brother, had undergone drastic changes after their parents' divorce. Cheren knew that they'd already been divorced before Touko had moved to Unova with her mother. He didn't really know the details because Touko refused to talk about it with him. Belle on the other hand knew most of the story and told Cheren only a little bit of it.

"They got divorced when she and Touya were only two," she had said, when Cheren asked. "They split the kids up and Touko's mom changed her name back to her maiden name, White. Touko did the same too."

"And what about Touya?" Cheren dared to ask.

"He remained with his father in Sinnoh," Belle responded, looking uneasy at his probing questions.

Touya Black had visited Unova almost every summer until he turned fifteen and each time he'd visited he grew more serious and moodier. He was incredibly stubborn, like Touko, but unlike Touko's carefree, messy, instinctive attitude, Touya had developed into brooding, serious teenager who relied more on logic and careful planning. Once Touya had turned fifteen, he'd become an emancipated minor, much to the puzzlement of his father and moved to Hoenn and became a Pokemon trainer there. Apparently he was very good too, according to Touko. He'd faced Steven, the champion of that region and held his own but had mysteriously declined the position of the Champion.

"Oh, well if you want to talk to her..." Cheren said, trailing off.

"What? Do you think I called to talk to you, Cher? Quit fuckin' around. Give her the XTransceiver."

Cheren usually wasn't used to following orders but he sighed and took the watch-like gadget off and handed it to Touko.

"Touya!" she exclaimed, an excited yet guilty smile appearing on her face.

"Hello dear sister," he sneered. "Thanks for picking up all my calls."

Touko blushed a deep red. "Sorry," she muttered. "I've been so busy..."

"Yeah, with the Charity Ball?" Touya asked, his blue eyes burning into her's.

Touko stammered, "H-how did you know about that?"

Touya rolled his eyes. "Doesn't even try to deny it," he muttered loud enough for Touko and Cheren to hear. "And you didn't even bother to invite me, did you?"

"I was going to!" Touko protested. "I was gong to call you..."

"But you were too busy planning for the ball so you didn't?" Touya said. "Yeah, that makes total sense."

"Hey, don't be rude," Cheren said. "She just forgot, alright?"

"Shut up, Cheren. If I wanted to talk to a cock sucker, I'd find one here to do it."

Cheren's eyes widened at the same time Touko yelled, "Touya, stop it! Don't talk about him that way. I'm inviting you now if you want to come. Take it or leave it," she said firmly.

Touya stared at her for one long moment. He muttered a swear word under his breath that neither Cheren or Touko could decipher. Finally, he said, "I'll think about it. Not that you'd want me there anyway." He turned away from the screen and it went blank.

Touko stared at the blank screen for one tremblingly long second. Cheren thought she was going to cry, but instead she handed the XTransceiver back to him, her eyes quite dry. "I honestly don't know why he's doing this," she said.

"Maybe he's telling you he misses you. That you should call more," Cheren suggested gently.

Touko opened her mouth to say something to Cheren, but at that moment the owner returned with a bunch of papers for them to sign and instead she gave him a sad smile, as if he didn't understand anything at all, before she turned away to talk to the theater owner.

* * *

"These are my governesses, Concordia and Anthea. They will respond to nothing else and have no last names."

Belle's mouth dropped. She'd expected to see cranky old women in one of the rooms that N had ushered her into at the topmost floor. Instead she got two beautiful women who Belle could not put an age on. They were...

"They're gorgeous," she breathed.

N smiled, amused at her reaction. Not many Plasma members knew that he still kept Concordia and Anthea close by him. They were probably the only people that N still trusted. He viewed them as the closest thing he had to a real family. "Right, I'll leave you three girls to it."

"I am Concordia," the one on the right said. She had long blonde hair and kept her eyes trained to the floor the whole time. Strange, Belle thought.

"And I'm Anthea," the one on the left said. Her hair was a shocking shade of pink but it suited her. "And you must be Belle," she said.

"Yes, hi," Belle managed to squeak out. She could not believe it. They could be supermodels, they certainly rivaled Caitlan's beauty as well as Elesa's and Skyla didn't even come-

"Impossible," Anthea said throwing up her hands.

"E-excuse me?" Belle asked, confused. Concordia stole a glance at Belle and managed to eke out a shy smile.

"Look at you. That posture, that voice, that _body, _that skin... What was N thinking?" Anthea drawled. She walked around Belle slowly, critically. "What've you been doing your whole life? Eating junk food?"

"Uh..." Belle stared at her bitten nails shamefully. These past few years, she _had _been doing just that. At some point in her life, after Mr. Fontaine's tragic death, Belle had stopped putting the effort in to make herself look good. What was the point? Cheren didn't love her and the guy at Nacrene City's museum wouldn't even look at her. Belle was a nobody.

Anthea tapped her chin haughtily. "Well," she said. "I suppose we'd better start now."

"Start? With what?"

Anthea's eyes pierced through her's. "Do you want to be worthy of N, Miss Fontaine?"

Belle resisted the urge to roll her eyes. So _this _was probably how N got his arrogant little god-complex. Then she sobered. She didn't care about being N's date but she _did _want to impress Cheren. And take Touko by surprise. What was that saying about revenge being best served cold? Oh she was going to serve them cold, and she was going to make sure it hurt for Touko.

And sweep Cheren off her feet. She nodded firmly at Anthea. "I do."

Anthea's eyes swept over Belle again, critically. "Then you will do exactly as I say. These next two weeks are imperative to your success. Not only will you be on a strict diet as well as an extremely taxing exercise regimen, Concordia and I will also be schooling you on the proper bourgeoisie etiquette. Failure to meet our expectations, and you can kiss your opportunity to attend the Charity Ball goodbye. This will be like a bootcamp for you. Are we understood?" Her eyes bore through Belle's who gulped before meekly nodding.

"I understand," she squeaked.

"I understand, Miss Anthea," she corrected. "And that posture is pitiful. Square your shoulders. Straighten that back," Anthea said. Belle complied as best she could. "More, more, more, no, not that much! Are you stupid, girl? What are you trying to do? Flash your breasts like a common prostitute?"

Belle's cheeks burned as she tried to slide her shoulder blades that would satisfy Anthea. She wasn't going to give up that easily. Not yet.

"That'll do," Anthea sniffed. "It isn't perfect, but we have more important things to focus on. How much water do you drink?"

"Uh... Three glasses, I think?" Belle didn't really know. She suspected it was probably even less.

Anthea made a noise of disgust. "Three?! From now on, you will drink your the number of your weight in pounds, in ounces of water. Every time you are hungry, you will drink at least ten ounces of water. This week, we will prepare you on salads. The week before the ball however, you will only consume liquids."

Belle's mouth fell open. "What?! Liquids?"

Anthea smirked. "Too hard for you?"

Belle thought about the looks she'd get in the ballroom. Especially Cheren's and Touko's. "No," she said, firmly.

Anthea said nothing, but snapped her fingers. Concordia handed her a notepad and she began scribbling down a schedule. "You will sleep here to save time."

"Why can't I have my Musharna just teleport me here from home?" Belle inquired.

Anthea scowled. "No. I will not have my hard work just dissipate from you every night when you go home to mommy. You sleep here so that you never forget your lessons. The moment you accepted N's friendship and agreed to be his date, you agreed to hold up to the image of being his date."

"Did the rest of his dates have to do this?" Belle wondered disgustedly.

Anthea raised an eyebrow. "No, only the plain kinds. Not that he's ever had a common date," she sniffed. "He's lowered his standards for you."

Yikes, she didn't like this Anthea person too much. True, she had the face of an angel, but she sounded like a total bitch. She watched Anthea finish scribbling the schedule down and hand it to Belle who stared at it.

Anthea was wrong about this being a sort of bootcamp. This was much worse. The mornings were devoted to exercise that included yoga, a sculpt class, and a full hour of cardio and other exercises that changed daily, working out different sections of her body. That was the morning. After an icy cold shower that only lasted for fifteen minutes ("Your pores must be completely closed, and the best way for this is to avoid warm water. As it is, they're wide enough to stick an elephant through," Anthea had sniffed.) Belle was allowed breakfast which consisted of only egg whites and fruit. Her stomach grumbled just thinking about it. After breakfast, Belle was to be coached for a total of two hours on etiquette followed by two hours of posture. Afterwards it was lunch which was a salad that contained no dressing or meat or even croutons or cheese. Ballroom dance classes followed, and then it was dinner which was just plain steamed chicken or fish. Before Belle was allowed to sleep, she would have a stretching class as well as an allotted hour when Anthea and Concordia would try different make up and styles on her hair to see what suited her best.

Belle's days ended at ten and they started at four in the morning. She sighed. Being pretty was not fun, she decided. Not in the least.

* * *

N stroked the edge of his chin. So far, all the pieces of his plan were coming together slowly but surely. He glanced at the map in front of him. A single white pin lay on Nuvema. A small victory, he mused. There was really nothing in Nuvema. Its inhabitants were not noteworthy with the exception of Cheren and Touko and, when Belle made her debut at the Ball, her too. He supposed Professor Juniper too, held some importance, but the professor would not be able to stop him.

Cheren wasn't much of a problem, he thought. It was really Touko who was. She had defeated him once before, a foolish miscalculation on his part. But he would not allow it to happen again. He'd spent three years building this plan and he'd be damned that she would be able to take him down this time.

The integral part to this equation was, of course Belle. She had proved far too easy to manipulate. It took him only second to realize why. It was obvious that she was lonely, too lonely to think it odd that N had pursued her friendship. Or perhaps she was too eager to reunite with Cheren to even care if N had a motive or not. He had to smirk at her ignorance. Poor, sweet and naive Belle.

The buzzer sounded on his door and he called out, "Come in."

It was Vivian. She strode in, her emerald green eyes looking formal and distantly polite. He felt a stiff twinge of annoyance at this; she was definitely not into men. All of his previous secretaries would either eye him with shyness, lust, flirtatiousness or timidity after he'd had his way with them. Vivian was clearly neither of these. But he would not let her go. If Touko caught wind of the fact that he fired her, she would only rub it in his face that she was completely right. "Sir, you asked me to call on you if there were any latest major developments and there has been."

"Go on," he responded with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course. We've got Accumula Town as well. Congratulations, sir."

N allowed himself to grin. "That _is_ a major development." Not a huge area, but nonetheless two cities already? He was getting good at this. "Thank you Vivian. Make sure that this news does not go too public. I would hate for the wrong ears to hear about this..."

Vivian blinked, but she was smart enough to realize not to ask any further questions. N was a very strange individual, which made her wary of him. "Very well, sir. Anything else?"

N let his eyes rake up her body, as if he were undressing her. He noted that she was wearing tighter clothing and that her cleavage was practically spilling out of her blouse. Her hair had also been let loose. Strange how she dressed, but wasn't interested in him. Arousal and nausea hit him at the same time. He didn't know which to address first.

"Sir?"

N finally found his voice. "You may leave."

No, she wasn't what he wanted. He sought something else. Something more challenging. There was no challenge in pursuing something that preferred pussies to dicks.

As much as he hated to admit it, what he really wanted was Touko. An equal in all things. He wanted to beat her until she cried and then take her in his arms and comfort her. He wanted her to submit everything to himself.

_Soon, _he tried to comfort himself when she left. He stared at Castelia's skyline.

_Soon._

* * *

"You couldn't have picked a worse time for a holiday, Belle," Professor Juniper groaned.

Belle was tired, hungry and miserable after a long day's worth of working out and learning pointless manners, but that didn't prevent her from glaring at her employer. "Aurea," she snapped. "It was you who wanted me to take a break and relax."

Juniper stared at her. Belle hardly snapped at her. Cheren was practically the only person she ever argued with on a regular basis. But Belle had never _ever _raised her voice at Juniper. "I did," she responded in a tiny voice. "But I'm just so busy... The Elite Four is in the process of designing a new Pokeball and they asked _us _to test it out since we hold the biggest species of Pokemon in Unova. And the fact that you've taken vacation without notifying me three days in advance is bad enough! But in addition to that, you want me to look after your mother?! I'm swamped with work, I won't have the time to check up on her!"

Belle stared at her for one long moment, and for one second, Juniper wondered if she would explode at her.

But Belle's shoulders merely sagged. "You're right," she whispered. "I can't ask you to do that. Maybe I should just come home... This was stupid..."

Professor Juniper was studying Belle carefully. Whatever vacation she was taking, it didn't look like it was doing her much good. She looked fatigued, but at the same time Juniper noted the determination in her bone-weary eyes before her shoulders had slumped in defeat. She felt extremely guilty for taking that determination away. Belle was a good girl who had had many bad things happen to her these past couple of years. Her life wasn't easy, her goals were often uncertain, and it had been a long time since she'd seen that familiar light that came into Belle's eyes. The last time she'd seen it was when Belle had asked to be her assistant which was nearly four years ago. Juniper was sorry to see it had faded over the years as Belle's friends disappointed her one by one.

Would Aurea be the final disappointment in Belle's life? She sighed inwardly in defeat. She couldn't allow that. "On second thought," she said, looking as though she'd just remembered something. "I just realized my father, Cedric, is staying with me for a week and a half. Perhaps if I could ask him to extend his stay, it would be easier on me..."

There it was again. That wonderful bright light in Belle's eyes. "Really?" she whispered, no longer looking irritable and tired. "Are you sure? I mean, if it's any trouble..."

"No," Professor Juniper responded firmly.

"Aurea, thank you. Thank you so much," Belle said. There was such a relief in her voice that it sounded like an worn out sigh.

"What..." she began to ask and then caught herself, shaking her head. She'd been about to ask Belle what she was doing, but then realized that Belle was grown up now and didn't requite mothering. So instead she said, "Be careful, Belle. Take care of yourself."

They said their goodbyes and Belle turned away to the window to stare up at the sky. In Nuvema, the stars could be seen clearly, but in Castelia the lights of Unova blocked their own light out so that the only thing you could see was the soft glow of the moon. The room was unbearably cold and held no traces of herself. It was just your typical contemporary, cool hotel room. She felt quite alone so she called out all of her Pokemon. Her Chandelure hovered in the air nearby, dimming her flames. Her Emboar additionally heated up the room further and settled nearby her bed, grunting softly as he lay there. Stoutland curled up by her feet and her Simisage took the couch while her Mienshao took up the other side of her bed. Her Musharna drifted away and filled the area with pleasant smelling dream mist.

"Sweet dreams," she yawned to her companions. She was too tired to think of anything else but this; That she felt extremely silly for having her Pokemon splayed around her like a little girl does to her dolls and toys.

But she didn't care. Her Pokemon were all that she had left and she wasn't about to abandon them.

* * *

Touko had one more thing to do before she headed back to Castelia and that was to visit somebody here. "You go on ahead," she'd told Cheren after they'd signed over the papers and had spent the rest of their afternoon in the Battle Subway, sharpening up their skills. "I have some errands to run."

Cheren had opened his mouth, perhaps to ask what it was that she had to do but she just shook her head gently, staving off any questions that he might have. So he called out his Unfezant and with a flourish of his wings, Cheren was gone. Touko watched him leave just to be sure that he wouldn't follow her. You could never be too careful these days. Then she set off towards the amusement park and stopped in front of the Gym right as an extremely attractive woman exited it.

It was obviously Elesa. Her expression was cool, the way you'd expect a model to look on the walkway. "So you came after all," she said. From her purse, Elesa took out a cigarette, put it between her lips and then, cupping a hand against the wind, she used her other hand to ignite the lighter on the other end of it. She took a long pull and exhaled slowly, as if she finally had found her solace in the world.

Touko had never liked Elesa. The woman had a big ego complex and was also a formidable trainer. Touko remembered having trouble trying to defeat her Emolgas. Those damning creatures. If that wasn't enough, Elesa's Zebstrika was one of the fastest creatures Touko had ever encountered that served under a trainer. "Yeah, I said I would, right?"

Elesa said nothing; she was too preoccupied with the cigarette. Yet she continued to gaze at Touko with her impassive, electric blue eyes.

"So what did you find out?" Touko finally asked, growing impatient with the silence.

Elesa pulled the cigarette away from her mouth. Smoke trailed from the end, rising up languidly into the autumn air. "N is definitely up to something, but I doubt it's illegal or sinister. He's buying areas like a madman."

"We already knew that," Touko said impatiently. "What did the other gym leaders say?"

Elesa blew out smoke that hit Touko in the face. She tried not to gag. "Be patient, Touko. You can't fault a businessman for buying businesses. It's only in his nature. You need to relax. You've beaten him once, so you can do it again, can't you?"

Touko shook her head. "It's not that simple. A Pokemon battle is one thing. I knew it was coming. I could prepare for it because I'm pretty good at kicking ass when it comes to Pokemon. But I don't know what N is planning. It seems like I beat him, but I didn't beat down his ideals. I fear that he's going to get his way in another way, a way that I won't be able to stop him. He's being secretive and wily. He wasn't like that before."

Elesa flicked her cigarette to the floor and crushed the embers out with her heel firmly. "You sound super paranoid. You need to relax. The Gym Leaders and the Elite Four, as well as Alder are monitoring him. Aside from the ambition as a businessperson, he seems harmless. He hasn't been travelling and as far as I'm concerned, he's stopped looking for that shitty uncle of his. You and I can at least agree that Ghetsis was behind Plasma's evil intent. Now with Ghetsis out of the way, N finally seems to understand. Plus I hear that you already caught all the Sages. That had to have been a crippling blow to what Plasma once was."

Touko tried to listen to Elesa's words, but she wasn't satisfied. She wouldn't rest until she knew what N was up to and she had a feeling - And her instincts were always right - that he had a plan. She couldn't guess it yet, but she resolved from now on that she would keep an even closer eye on N.

"Are we done here?" Elesa asked, her smoky voice penetrating the slightly chilly air. "I got a date."

Touko raised her eyebrows but watched the supermodel swing a high-heeled boot over her heavy-duty black motorcycle and rev it up before shooting past Touko without saying goodbye. Touko sighed. It seemed that everyone around her was content, so why couldn't she be?

It was decided, she thought as she called out her Braviary to fly her home. She would pay a little visit to Plasma Inc. tomorrow and do some sleuthing of her own. Grimly, she set her jaw as she mounted Braviary who let out a powerful shriek before taking off and setting her towards home


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four – Reconnaissance Missions

_Didn't he ever tell you? Didn't he ever tell you the secrets of your past, who you are? _

_Stop asking me these questions, I know perfectly well what I am, who I am._

_Then why are you so lost? Why do you never know what to do? Look further... do not be content with the illusion... trust your friends._

_But... you are no longer my friend._

Touko woke up, sweat dripping down her face. "Fuck it," she muttered, running a hand over her face. She tried to control her breathing, but they came out in short bursts. She wrenched the sheets from her body and put her legs over the side, letting them land on the carpet. She put her hands in her face and held them there willing herself not to cry but they were not tears of sorrow. They were tears of guilt. Pure, blind guilt.

4:14 AM.

The red glow of her alarm clock glared at her threatening her to sleep. Daring her. She could not go back there. She opened her mouth and a wordless, silent scream of frustration passed through her. She was trapped in this state of paranoia.

So for that one brief moment, she allowed herself to cry. But just for that moment.

* * *

"Cheren, it's so good to see you!" Mrs. Arai said, giving her son a hug. "You hardly come home anymore!" she squeezed her son tighter with each word.

"Mom... Can't... Breathe," he managed to gasp, but she didn't let up. Instead, she fussed over his hair.

"When was the last time you cut your hair, Cheren?" she asked, frowning.

Cheren swatted her hand away. "I like it this way better," he huffed, annoyed. Why were moms so embarrassing?

Mrs. Arai pursed her lips but didn't comment. She led Cheren back to their house. "Your father's at work today, so he might not come back until this evening. How long will you be here for?"

Cheren stared at his tiny mother. In many ways, her appearance was very misleading. She was short, squat and had a pleasant face. But she was fierce... Perhaps even more fierce than Mrs. Fontaine and Mrs. White combined. Not that Mrs. Fontaine was fierce at all, actually. "I guess I could stay until dinner."

"Why not stay the night?"

Cheren shrugged. "I have stuff to do," he responded vaguely. He'd been thinking about training his Pokemon a little further with Touko.

Mrs. Arai put her hands on her hips. "What kind of stuff? Stuff with Touko? She already has you most of the time!"

"Mom," Cheren said warningly. "She _is _my fiancé."

Mrs. Arai pursed her lips but didn't say a word. Cheren knew that his mother wasn't especially fond of Touko the way everyone else was and he had to wonder why. She had seemed fine with her when they were all kids, often inviting Touko and Belle over many times, insisting that Cheren actually spend time with people since he was an introverted kid. But ever since Cheren had announced his engagement to his parents, his mother had treated Touko with a cold sort of politeness, the kind she'd reserved for strangers that she instinctively decided she didn't like. When he confronted his father about the issue, Mr. Arai had simply shrugged and vaguely said, "You know your mother."

Yeah, his mother was a nutcase.

"So how is Mrs. White? Professor Juniper?" he asked. He was planning on visiting them soon anyway, but he wished to change the topic.

"Mrs. White is lonely, she hasn't heard from Touko in ages. What that girl is doing that she can't even call her mother..." Cheren noisily cleared his throat in disapproval and Mrs. Arai sighed in defeat and continued, "The professor seems okay. She has this new project that involves the Elite Four... Exciting business, you should visit her later on and maybe help her out."

Cheren's pulse picked up at the thought of maybe running into Belle while he was there. It had been two days and Belle still hadn't contacted him. Was this the end of their friendship? "What about Mrs. Fontaine?"

Mrs. Arai clucked her tongue sympathetically. "Poor woman hasn't changed much and with Belle just taking off for vacation..."

"Belle's on vacation?" Cheren yelped. "Belle _never _goes on vacation!" It was a trait that she and Cheren shared. But while Cheren never took days off just so that he could get ahead in whatever it was that he was doing, Belle never took days off because she truly enjoyed her work.

Mrs. Arai shrugged and then, with a puzzled frown said, "Yes, it was quite sudden. She didn't even say... Just took off and told Aurea she wasn't going to be back for another two to three weeks!"

Cheren swallowed. That wasn't typical Belle behavior at all. "Did she say where she was going?"

Mrs. Arai gave Cheren a strange look. "Well, I assumed she was going to visit you. But now that I think of it, she didn't say where she was going. She didn't tell you?"

Cheren stared at the Fontaines' house which was slowly beginning to fall apart due to disrepair. "No... She didn't tell me anything."

* * *

"Sloppy," Anthea said tartly. "Start again."

"I'm trying... the best I can," Belle said. She'd been sitting in front of Anthea and Concordia for the past hour and they'd been quizzing her on all the important wealthy people's names.

"Your best is disgusting."

"Anthea," Concordia whispered, barely a chastisement.

"Don't _Anthea_ me," she said. She pointed an angry finger at a quivering Belle. "Look at her!"

Indeed Belle looked worse for wear. She'd already lost three pounds and she was sure there were plenty more to be lost. She was sore from the rigorous training as well. Belle was never particularly weak; her fieldwork had been enough to ensure that she stayed active. But this exercise was designed to not only make her active, but fit and smoothly muscular. She was weary already and it was only day three. This was the hardest she'd ever worked at anything before and it was beginning to take a toll on her. Luckily, her Musharna ensured that she slept for the full six hours she was allowed to sleep and made sure she didn't have any bad dreams.

N had also graciously allowed her to keep her Pokemon out of their Pokeballs, an act of kindness that Belle was entirely grateful for. As long as they stayed on the top floor, they were allowed out. "And if they disobey my rules then you and your Pokemon will regret it," he said firmly. He did not elaborate and Belle shuddered. She did not doubt that N was capable of many things. Though he may do nothing to her own Pokemon, she knew that he had the mind and power to crush her effectively.

"Those are the Wallaces. They are known for the Water Pokemon Championships they hold annually," Belle said, straightening in the uncomfortable chair that she was sitting in. The chair was designed to help her sit up straight and help with posture but all it did was make her feel uncomfortable and fidgety. She did not fidget though, because if she did, Anthea would slap her on the back of her head with a stick. It didn't hurt the first couple of times, but after awhile Belle had begun to experience a headache.

Anthea pursed her lips and didn't say anything further which Belle took as a compliment since Anthea couldn't seem to bring herself to actually say anything nice about Belle. "Take a break," she barked. "But only five minutes."

Belle sighed in relief and slumped in her seat before Anthea whacked her on the back with the stick. "Just because you are on break, Ms. Fontaine, does not mean you get to act like a country bumpkin."

Belle glared at her but refused to comment. She was simply too tired and sore to start up any fights, so she just watched Anthea exit the room. It was at that moment that her XTransceiver began to buzz making her almost jump out of her seat in alarm and jerking her awake. Nobody, except for Professor Juniper called her anymore, and her first instinct was that something horrible had happened to her mother because it couldn't be for any other reason that Juniper was calling her.

But then she glanced at the screen and her heart skidded to a halt.

Cheren.

Cheren was calling _her_. Belle. He was calling her?!

That was incomprehensible. She looked up and met Concordia's eyes, the blood draining from her face.

"What is it?" Concordia asked timidly.

"It's... It's Cheren," Belle stuttered. She was dimly aware in the back of her mind someplace, that Concordia probably had no idea of the significance of Cheren calling her for once. When was the last time he'd even called her first? Belle tried to remember, and failed. And meanwhile, her XTransceiver kept buzzing over and over.

Concordia fixed her wide eyes on her. "You mustn't."

"What?" Belle asked, still looking at Cheren's name which was flashing repeatedly on the watch's surface. Cheren Arai. Cheren Arai.

"You can't accept that call."

"Why... why not?" Belle asked. "I won't tell him where I am."

Concordia cleared her throat nervously. "You... You shouldn't." She swallowed. "I know you want to, but you shouldn't."

"He's worried about me though," Belle said. She felt herself blush. So maybe he really did care about her after all.

"Yes, and he'll worry more if you don't accept it. He will think about you more often. Don't you see?" Belle only fixed her with a strange look and shook her head so that Concordia could continue further with her explanation. "Men want a little bit of mystery in their woman, they _want_ a woman who they can chase after and that only comes when she's not always available to him. Don't you see?" she finished, wetting her lips nervously. It was the most she'd ever talked and out of all her three days here so far, Belle realized that she had just been given some very valuable advice.

So as much as it killed her, she let it buzz until the call was missed. She felt a sense of dread coupled with excitement and an unbearable, crazy sense of longing. _Cheren..._

Her fingers itched to redial back, but at the moment she was about to, Anthea stalked back inside and barked, "Break's over. We're going to the dining room now," she drawled. "Your posture is dreadful and you still don't seem to know which fork to use for the salad and which spoon to use for the soup course."

And just like that Belle fell into her routine once again.

* * *

Her heart was hammering furiously. The last time she'd been in this building, she'd exited in blind rage. Now she was entering it again but she had no plans on confronting N this time. It was the first time she was entering here to not see him and it felt strange, wrong.

Over the course of three years, Touko had at first, come to this building a lot. She had been unable to stay away from N for too long and she'd felt partly responsible, as if she had a duty to help him get back on his feet. But as time elapsed and N grew colder and more suave, Touko found his presence unbearable. The plethora of women he paraded in front of her also did not help his new image in Touko's eyes.

As she stole into the building she was surprised to see Vivian. Strange, she'd thought N would give the slip to the buxom blonde but apparently this was not the case. She frowned. This would cause unnecessary drama. Touko didn't want anyone to recognize her and she thought just letting her hair down and straightening the waviness, as well as wear normal street clothing and no make up would do it. After all, nobody really knew how Touko looked like when she dressed like an every day person. But she had no doubt that Vivian, who had interacted with Touko, even hitting on her, would notice who Touko was at first glance.

So Touko slipped into the Ladies' room before the secretary could spot her and breathed in heavily at herself in the mirror. She had not slept at all last night so the dark circles under her normally vibrant blue eyes were pretty noticeable. She dragged out a long sigh.

She frowned, biting her lower lip as she stared at the cold bathroom's interior. She fervently wished she had a Zorua or Zoroark to disguise her, but they were practically impossible to find or capture. She supposed she could ask Professor Juniper who owned nearly all species native to Unova, but she doubted Belle would like the idea of her borrowing the Pokemon. She groaned. She really needed to find more friends. It seemed like she'd alienated herself from her family, although this was more her fault. Cheren alone just would not do.

She was glad she finally managed to convince Cheren to spend the day at his parent's house. It hadn't been easy, but she had won him over in the end, insisting that Cheren also needed to check up on her mom, Mrs. White.

"Why can't you do it?" he grumbled.

"Because, I have to go over things with the caterers," Touko had lied. Cheren didn't seem entirely convinced, but he took off anyway.

Touko stared at the ventilators. If only she was small enough to fit in those tiny holes... And then she thought of a brilliant idea. _Joltik! Why didn't I think of him before?_ Berating herself for not thinking of it sooner, she sent out the electric bug type Pokemon who instantly crawled up her hand. She rubbed her cheek against the tiny Pokemon before saying, "I have a favor for you. Can I trust you to do it?"

Joltik only looked up at her with his big blue eyes and nodded. She whispered some instructions to the spider and let him jump off her. As she watched him scuttle away, she waited with bated breath.

* * *

Cheren stared at the missed call that flashed on his screen. He only hoped Belle was okay. Was she just really mad at him? The option flashed for Cheren to leave a message and without hesitation he did so. "Hey... Belle. It's me, Cheren. I'm in Nuvema Town right now and I just heard that you're on vacation... Um, it's been awhile since we last talked so if you could give me a call back..." he stared awkwardly at the screen for a moment before adding. "Well, bye then." He clicked the phone shut and then stared at Professor Juniper's house which also doubled as her lab. He knocked on the door and Juniper opened, looking flustered.

She blinked for a couple of seconds before saying, "Cheren? That you?"

Cheren nodded slowly, and before he knew it Juniper had gathered him into his second bone crushing hug of the day. "It's been almost a month! How are you and Touko? Doing okay?"

Cheren managed to squeeze out a, "Yes," before Juniper let him go. Behind the professor, he could see Juniper's father, Cedric, as well as Mrs. Fontaine the latter of which was looking weary and depressed as usual. However, among seeing Cheren, Belle's mother lighted up in a smile. She was always fond of Cheren and often berated Belle to be more like Cheren who was, in her opinion, "a smart and handsome young lad." Cheren blushed every time she said that.

"Cheren! What brings you here?" Mrs. Fontaine asked.

"Well actually," he said scratching the back of his head. "I just wanted to visit my parents and I thought I'd check up on everybody else."

"Well, we're all doing fine," Mrs. Fontaine responded. "Though you just missed Belle. She went on vacation."

Cheren thumbed his chin. "Yes," he muttered, lowering his eyes. "So I've heard. And you've no idea where she went?"

Mrs. Fontaine shrugged, rubbing her eyes. Cheren was always struck by how unlike her mother and Belle were. Asides from their height, the two didn't even look alike. "She didn't say but I suspect it was with her new friend."

Cheren's ears perked up at this unusual piece of information. "New friend?"

"Well yes, she had a male friend who came over at a very late hour. I... I forgot... He said his name and he was so familiar, but I must've forgotten... But he was so charming," she finished with a sigh.

Cheren's eyebrows shot up. A charming male friend at a very late hour...? Had Belle found a boyfriend?

He wondered for one brief instant if it was Touya but then nearly laughed out loud. Touya was _not _charming. And besides, he knew that Touya was far away, perhaps in Johto or Kanto, he couldn't remember. There was no reason that Touya would come here... But how else would he have heard about the Charity Ball? He had a hard time believing it was being advertised in Hoenn or regions so heavily. If he was indeed here, and if he was the charming man that Mrs. Fontaine was referring to then Belle may have told him about it. Which meant she'd witnessed his and Touko's kiss. Was that why she wasn't returning his calls? Had that upset her?

"So you don't remember who he was?" Cheren asked, straightening his glasses so that he could look at Mrs. Fontaine more clearly.

She shook her head. "I know I've seen him before though... Maybe a lot..."

Cheren shook his head, feeling an irrational surge of irritation pass through him. It had to have been Touya, then. He couldn't think of anyone else who would visit Belle that Mrs. Fontaine would think was familiar but couldn't recall his name. It was simply one more reason to not like Touya.

* * *

She heard Vivian gasp out in shock and now she knew it was her time. She knew Joltik had only shocked her just enough so that she would pass out for a minute or so, so Touko only had seconds to get onto the elevator. She ran, scooping Joltik up on the way.

"Thank you, 'Tik," she whispered and jabbed a button all the way at the end. She hoped N wasn't around and wondered if there was any way she could distract him from his office. She called the creature back into his Pokeball as the elevator began to rise rapidly. Her pulse was climbing along with it and finally the doors opened and she stepped out warily, brushing her hair aside.

She walked down the familiar long and narrow corridor before she heard some noises coming out in one of them and stopped. It was a woman's voice and it sounded very annoyed. "Not _that _spoon. Why would you use it to spoon soup with it?"

A muffled response that Touko couldn't really hear.

"Start over, you pathetic excuse for a human being."

It sounded like torture, Touko thought and with anger surging through her, she opened the door only to be met with the eyes of a Musharna which stared at her straight in the eye and let out a low pitched whine. There was something very familiar about this Musharna, but Touko couldn't place what it was. Meanwhile, the Musharna was doing something strange to her and before Touko knew what was happening she began to grow very drowsy.

_Hyponosis!_ She thought and tried to lower her eyes but it was too late. She gripped the doorknob as her knees gave away.

"What is the meaning of this?" she heard a smooth, low voice ask and groaned.

"Oh no, not you," she groaned as she slumped to the floor, one hand still on the doorknob which she pushed it forward lightly.

She felt somebody grab her hands from behind and help her stand but it was no use. The Musharna had done its job and she'd passed out in N's arms.

* * *

N stared at Touko's still form which was lying on the couch. It would take several hours before she woke up, he thought. Belle's Musharna had done her job very well. He sighed in relief. It was almost by pure luck that the Musharna had been around and that Belle was too weary to notice much commotion. He couldn't imagine what Belle would think if she spotted Touko here. He didn't know what exactly it was that Belle was angry at Touko about, but he knew that they hadn't spoken for years. Touko had told him as much when she was still trying to become his friend.

He knelt by her side and trapped a section of her hair in his hand. She'd done something with it, for it was no longer wavy and voluminous. It was pin straight and as he brought it up to his nose and inhaled deeply he also smelled a faint scent of burnt hair. She must have straightened it herself, he thought, smiling against her hair. She stirred in her sleep, her eyes scrunching up for a brief second before relaxing. What was she dreaming about?

He smirked. Probably him. He sighed and dropped the hair. As he did so, he slowly brushed his hand against her face. N allowed himself to watch her for a few more seconds before he walked back to the hall for his first dance lesson with Belle. Anthea had insisted that they have at least three lessons together and N didn't understand the importance of him going in. He was already an accomplished dancer and doubtless, he thought with a pained smile, Belle was clumsy. He should probably wear harder shoes.

He entered the designated room. Concordia was setting up a stereo that played soft classical music. "Where is Anthea and Belle?" he asked.

Concordia knelt upward and smiled kindly at N. "I think they're getting set up," she said warmly as N approached her. "She is too hard on her," she added softly.

N chuckled. "Well you know how Anthea is..."

Concordia shook her head softly. "Oh N, you must tell her to ease up a bit. Belle doesn't seem to be thriving. It kills me to see her like this."

N only looked at her curiously. It was true that Anthea was hard and often, at times, seemed incapable of love or kindness but he expected Concordia to defend Anthea's decisions much like she always did. Was Belle already growing on the more gentle of his governesses?

"Don't get too attached, Concordia," he warned.

Concordia's eyes lowered in disappointment. "Of course not, my lord. But please," she said hesitantly and stopped haltingly as if she just only remembered her place.

But N asked, "What is it?"

"Don't... Don't hurt her, my lord. She is a good girl. There aren't many of them who are entirely pure of heart. She is one of them, I believe."

N opened his mouth to respond but at that moment, Belle and Anthea had entered. Belle was wearing a long, flouncy white skirt and a light blue halter top and she stopped short among seeing N.

"What are you doing here?" she blurted.

"You must become familiar with your dancing partner, especially you since you are clumsy," Anthea sniffed. Belle didn't even bat an eye at her insult; it seemed as if she was already used to them. "This will be the first of your three lessons you will share with N. The next one will be towards the end of this week, followed by one two days before the actual Ball."

"This is stupid," Belle muttered as N approached her.

He chuckled lightly. "Why Belle? Most women would yearn for an opportunity like this."

Belle shook her head and circled her arm around his arm that snaked around her waist. Their hands met in the middle. "Posture, Fontaine. Posture! You're in the presence of a handsome, wealthy bachelor. Don't just slouch!"

Belle grimaced and N laughed inwardly. "You really don't like her, do you?" he murmured in amusement.

"Am I that obvious?" Belle rolled her eyes. "I think she's taking this too seriously."

The music began and Anthea called out, "Don't try to control him! Let him control you! In ballroom dancing, the man always leads!"

Belle slowed down to match N's steps but she wasn't doing very well. Twice, she stepped on his toes and he counted himself lucky that she wasn't wearing heels. "You really are bad at this, aren't you?" he said cheerfully.

She glowered at him and she stomped on his foot harder but whether this was by design or accident, N couldn't tell. He was too busy trying to make it look like he wasn't in pain. "Watch your step," he hissed.

"A perfect dance partner always has the element of pleasantness to her," Anthea called out. "Don't make faces at him! Don't be rude!"

As if it was the hardest thing she ever had to do thus far, Belle's mouth muscles turned upward.

"Do you really despise me that much, that you can't even give me a smile, Belle?" He dipped her downward.

"Glide your leg downward without bending it like an old woman!"

Belle eyed him suspiciously as she strove to keep her leg straight and graceful as he held her almost parallel to the floor. "Why does it matter so much?"

N shrugged. "I just want my friend to like me." As Belle looked at him, she noted that behind that sly smile and that put-together facade, there was a look of terrible loneliness that almost ripped her heart apart.

So, even though Belle still fully didn't trust him, she smiled.

* * *

When Touko awoke, she was surprised to find that it was dark. _Where am I?_ she wondered. She pulled herself up and swung her legs over the side of the couch. She stretched and yawned and then turned around to look at the window that overlooked the skyline of Castelia. She shuddered. She knew exactly where she was now.

_I must have passed out! But how... How did I get here? _She gazed around. _Somebody must have brought me here... Was it Vivian or N or somebody else? No wait, I remember! It was N! But why would N leave me alone here? And since when did he own a Musharna? _But there was no time to dwell on the issue. She didn't know when N was coming back but she also knew that this was the first time she was here alone. Now was her chance to poke around and maybe find out some information.

Jumping off the couch quickly, she circled towards his desk and sat on his high-backed leather chair. She frowned. What should she look at first? She wrenched open a cabinet and quickly rifled through some files but quickly discovered that they were all files on his past and future potential secretaries. She jammed it shut and tried the other cabinets but they were all locked. She groaned in frustration and concentrated on the top part of the desk but aside from some stupid maps with a bunch of pins on it, she couldn't find anything else noteworthy. She hit the spacebar on the monitor in front of her but it prompted a password. Touko frowned. What was N's password? She tried, "Plasma," "Kyurem," "Reshiram," and even, "PokemonNerd1" but these were all invalid. On her last attempt, the computer locked her out for a full ten minutes and Touko was getting desperate so she jumped up from his desk and headed towards the file cabinets.

"Now," she murmured to herself. "What am I looking for?" She pulled open the first two cabinets and rifled through more employee files before kneeling towards the last cabinet. There was a lock on it but it appeared to be unlocked so Touko wrenched it open and grabbed a thick file. "Strange," she said aloud. "Why is it so heavy?"

She discovered why a second later when she opened it. It was a file on Ghetsis. Touko nearly dropped the file in shock, but at the last second, she held onto it. Touko disliked a lot of people, but there were only two people in the world that Touko could say with certainty that she absolutely hated. Ghetsis was one of them.

As she stared at the photograph of the older man for a moment, she willed her heartbeat to slow down. She definitely was not expecting to see a file still here on Ghetsis. Was N trying to find him? But why? Why, after everything Ghetsis had put N through, why would he still try to contact Ghetsis?

She began to read the file, but it became apparent that N hadn't found Ghetsis yet and was still in the process of searching for the man. Only one area had been searched thoroughly and that was...

"Nuvema Town," she breathed. Was that why N was buying off towns? So that he could look through them for Ghetsis? She was about to leaf through the pages some more when something, no someone, grabbed her wrist and yanked the file away from her. "Wha-?" she asked in confusion.

"You really should learn to respect another person's privacy, White," N said calmly. Apart from his jaw muscles that twitched, nothing about him suggested he was angry about the fact that he'd caught her red handed.

Touko gulped before standing up to stand up against him. "Why are you looking for Ghetsis?" she asked, matching his calm voice. She was trying to calm down her erratic heartbeat, but it wasn't working. Not when he was standing so close to her. Not when he was looking down at her like _that_.

"That's none of your business," he said, his jaw muscles working a little more furiously than they were before.

"It is, especially since he separated every trainer from their Pokemon," she responded, trying not to quail under his gaze. He was looking at her as if he wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her. "If you're trying to contact him then I'll be forced to assume that you're in league with everything he represents again."

N's gaze softened just a notch. He took a step forward so that his feet were standing flush against hers. She swallowed, but refused to step backward or to break eye contact. "And then?" he asked quietly, sarcastically. "You'll put a stop to me? Will we become enemies again?"

Touko's eyebrows furrowed. "That's what you'd like, wouldn't you?" she hissed back.

N smiled; it wasn't a happy one. To her utmost relief and disappointment, he took a step away from her and faced away from her. He was looking at the file with a strangely reminiscent gleam in his eye. "We were always enemies, Touko," he responded wearily.

"That's how you wanted it," Touko said, crossing her arms. "You make it hard for people to trust you, and your little antics sicken me."

She couldn't see his face anymore, but she saw him toss the profile onto his desk, almost like an afterthought. He clasped his hands behind his back and stared out the window. For a moment, she thought he didn't hear her jab towards him but eventually he faced her and with his green eyes boring into hers he said, "Go home, Touko. Don't get involved in this."

Touko couldn't help but get irritated by this. "Go home?" she nearly yelled. "I'm the Champion of this region! I have every right to know what's going on here!"

N's jaw clenched and he strode over to her. He grabbed her by the wrist and wrenched her towards him. As she collided into his chest, Touko thought for one heart stopping moment, that N was going to kiss her. What frightened her the most about this wasn't that he was going to do it but that she _wanted _him to do it.

But instead of locking lips with her, N merely began dragging her across the room. "Go. Home," he hissed. "I don't care if you're the Champion or not, Touko. At the end of the day, it's probably best that you don't know what I'm up to _because _you're Champion. Besides," he added as she started to struggle against the grip that he had against her. "I don't trust you."

"Trust me?!" she couldn't help but yelp, despite herself. "This is coming from the shadiest person I've ever met!"

N smirked as they approached the door. He grabbed her wrists, which were beginning to weaken in effort and, using his foot, opened the door before pushing her out. A guard stood out to make sure she didn't poke around anywhere else. "I'm only suspicious to you, Touko. Everybody else adores me. All the wealthy... And all the lovely, gorgeous women. Shame you aren't one of them," he said.

There he was, back to his usual annoyingly slick self, Touko thought. She glared at him. "Fuck you."

She might as well have complimented him because N's smirk only widened. "Oh, I almost forgot," he said.

"What?"

He placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in and brushed the hair away from her forehead before placing a chaste kiss on her forehead. She sucked in a breath, closing her eyes. She tried not to, really tried hard not to notice that he smelled musky with a hint of spice. It made her feel deliciously warm inside.

"Wh-what was that for?" she asked, blushing despite herself, when he backed away.

N shrugged. "Forgiveness."

"W-why?"

"I'm about to make you an even angrier woman soon," he said, before closing the door on her completely.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – The Ball Part I

Cheren had been glancing at his reflection for a while now. His hair was slicked back, and in his stiff white shirt with a black bow tie along with a well-fitted tuxedo, he couldn't remember when he'd last dressed up this much. He supposed it was during the Congratulatory Ball that was thrown in Touko's honor after she'd defeated N. After that, Touko had gone to all the high class parties and Cheren had skipped out on most. He wasn't used to socializing with their type.

He blinked once or twice, testing his eye contacts out. Touko had expressly forbade him to wear glasses. "I know glasses are in, but nobody's ever seen you without them! Come on, puh-leaaaase?" she whined.

It annoyed him a little, but in the end he'd caved in and got some contacts. Grudgingly, he had to admit that he _did_ look better without them.

"Falling in love with yourself?" Touko teased as she walked out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a bathrobe. A week ago, Cheren would have found it hard to take his eyes off her. But now he only anxiously gazed at his XTransceiver. He'd called Belle at least three times a day since learning she'd went on vacation, but each time he'd gotten no response. As a result he began to search for the girl but to no avail.

He'd contemplated telling Touko about Belle's mysterious disappearance several times but Touko had been so busy with last minute preparations that Cheren couldn't catch her at a time when they could discuss it freely.

"You look worried. Everything okay?" Touko asked, letting her hair free from the towel turban.

Cheren sighed, scrutinizing her reflection from the mirror. He weighed his options for only a split second before turning around to face her. "Well, not really," he admitted.

"Why? What's wrong?"

Cheren frowned. "I'm... I'm scared something bad has happened to Belle."

He let the sentence hang between them. It was the first time he'd been the one to bring up Belle to Touko and it seemed like Touko had, at first, seemed to not register what he'd said. She just stared at him in a bemused way, halfway through putting on some chandelier earrings.

He waited, letting it sink in. It took almost a full five seconds before she finally spoke and when she did she whispered, "Belle?"

He allowed himself to nod slowly. "Yeah, we haven't talked in weeks... I tried to look for her in Nuvema Town but everybody said she'd gone on vacation."

Touko's face was white. The chandelier earring fell from her ear and dropped the floor, but she didn't seem to notice. "Tell me everything," she said in a hushed voice.

So Cheren did. With burning cheeks, he talked about their last phone call. It embarrassed him to tell her about their fight, and he made sure not to repeat everything that was said between them. He then explained how he had repeatedly tried to reach her, and then tried to search for her on his own. "I just don't know where she is," he said throwing his hands up in frustration.

Touko pressed her lips tightly together. "I... don't know what to say," she finally muttered, sitting down. She clutched the folds of her fluffy white bathrobe together and stared at him, guilt torn all over her face. "What if it's my fault that she's gone?" she said hoarsely.

Cheren looked up in surprise. "No, Touko. I don't think-"

"It must be!" Touko said, finally standing up. "Look Cheren, I'm the reason Belle ended up this way. What if she finally snapped? It's my fault that Belle's mom is the way she is as a result of what I did... If I hadn't opened my big mouth-"

Cheren shook his head firmly. "I won't allow you to place the blame on yourself fully. What happened between you two happened three years ago! It doesn't make sense that she finally snapped after such a long time. It was my fault."

Touko's eyes were rapidly filling with tears. She shook her head and opened her mouth to respond when the doorbell of their condo buzzed. Cheren stared at Touko in confusion but her features had dissolved into one of stoic calmness. "Those would be my dressers. I will need you to leave, Cheren. The banquet must still go on."

"How can you _do_ that? Belle might need our help if she's still alive at all!"

Touko fixed him with a steely gaze. "Look, Cheren. Just because Belle's gotten herself in trouble doesn't mean the world will stop just for her. This banquet is important to me."

"How can you say that?" Cheren asked disgustedly. He couldn't believe that Touko appeared so calm. This was their _friend _they were talking about, for Kyurem's sake!

The buzzer rang even more insistently this time. Touko walked over to the door and before she opened it, she whirled around to face Cheren. Her features softened once again to show her anxiety once more. "Right after the ball, Cheren. I promise you, we will find her. And I won't stop until we find her dead or alive. But for now, we have to host this thing. If we aren't there then we won't raise enough funds for the Pokemon Shelter and that's a cause I'm not going to back down on. I've worked too hard for this, understand?"

Cheren looked at the way her eyes seemed dead set and felt the knot in his stomach lessen slightly. "Alright," he responded hesitantly.

* * *

"Ready?" N asked. He was wearing a fitted black and white three piece suit with a bright blue silk tie, the color of Reshiram's eyes. Belle had to admit, he looked pretty handsome. The only thing that he hadn't changed was his hair which still streamed down his back in an attractive messy sort of way. Right now, he had his hands in his pocket and he was giving her the once over coolly. A week and a half ago, Belle would have blushed. Now she simply looked back at him square in the eye.

The Belle that stood in front of him was no longer Belle Fontaine from Nuvema Town. Her green eyes were smoky makeup adorning them, making her face light up with a mysterious aura. She'd worn bright red lipstick and her hair had been curled and coiffed to make her look like an old Pokestar Studio actress. She was wearing white gloves and a blue ballroom gown the exact shade of N's tie. She'd thought it was a little too prom-like for her taste, the way they'd matched but he had insisted on it. "We _must _debut our relationship in more than one way," he announced firmly.

Relationship? Belle wasn't sure what that curtailed. She hoped that the wealthy business tycoon understood that she wasn't going to be his next plaything. She drew the line at physicalness. "I'm ready," she said smoothly and held out her elbow to him as Concordia and Anthea entered in.

Concordia said nothing upon noting Belle's appearance, but then the woman hardly said much. She simply communicated with her eyes

Anthea on the other hand had done something she hadn't done before; she gave Belle a genuine smile. "My dear, you have finally blossomed."

Belle was shocked at Anthea's behavior but she did not show it outwardly. Instead she returned the smile and demurred, "I could not have done it without your generous help."

Anthea nodded in approval; It was, after all a gracious lady's prerogative to return a compliment in hand. "You are ready."

Belle sought Concordia's eyes once again for approval as well, but the older blonde simply tilted her head to the side and smiled sadly. Belle wondered why, but before she could ask, N swept her away.

As they rode down the elevator, Belle couldn't help but grow excited. Two weeks of isolation was a very long time and Belle longed to taste the outdoor air. "What's in there anyhow?" N asked, piercing her thoughts. He nodded his head at her gold clutch.

"A man should never question what is in a lady's purse," she responded, curving her lips upward. In truth, the purse held some cosmetics and breath mints; the plan was that Cheren would be so swept away by her transformation that he'd immediately start making out with her. Belle wanted to be prepared for that, and she didn't want her breath smelling. She drew her gold shawl over her shoulders tightly as if to hide her secret even more securely.

But even more important than those items were four Pokeballs. The other two were attached to a garter that was thankfully hidden by the long skirt of her gown. Anthea had told her it was rude to carry Pokemon to a high class event, but Belle couldn't think of a time when she left her beloved Pokemon behind during an important event. Besides, she thought wryly, knowing N and his penchant to get on Touko's bad graces, she thought it best that she have Musharna at bay in efforts to teleport the both of them easily.

Her heart pounded at the thought of seeing Touko again. In many ways, she loathed seeing her ex-best friend - She still didn't know what she would say to Touko. But in other ways, she longed to see Touko. For once, Belle felt as if she had the upper hand. Amongst their trio, Belle had always felt inadequate around Cheren and Touko both of whom always seemed put together. Touko was always a confident woman who went purely by instinct and was always rewarded for it. Cheren was beyond smart; he was a genius. Belle had been neither of those, but for the first time, Belle felt confident enough to be their equals.

The night air smelled delicious and its coldness bit at Belle's skin but she didn't mind. She breathed in deeply, inviting the promises that this night would invariably hold. N opened the car door for her and she slid herself into the back of the limo, tucking the enormous skirt of the gown in with her. N slammed the door shut once they'd gotten in. "You seem... nervous," N said after looking at her for a long moment.

Belle faced him and smiled widely. "Not nervous," she responded, her eyes bright. "I guess you could say I'm... excited."

"Well, stay excited. The look suits you more than the sorry girl I knew two weeks back." He used a gloved hand to flick a stray piece of green hair from his forehead.

Belle smiled and looked outdoors, at the moon. "What sorry girl?" she teased. "I don't know who you're talking about."

In just an hour, she promised herself. In an hour, they would reach Nimbasa City.

Outside, the night seemed to vibrate with anticipation.

* * *

"You look lovely, my dear," Caitlin drawled, noting Touko. "The dress is exquisite."

"Thanks, Caitlin," Touko responded warmly as she hugged the woman. Out of all the Elite 4, she liked Caitlin the least. The psychic trainer was coldly beautiful and distant. While Touko had established easy friendships with Shauntal, Grimsley, and Marshall, Caitlin had been a different story. She was always asleep whenever Touko had to trouble her with something and everyone knew that Caitlin absolutely _loathed _being woken up. It seemed the only person who could ever awaken her in a pleasant mood was Darach.

Touko had swept her hair up into an elaborate bun, leaving strands dangling. She had to admit, her make up artists and outfit that was chosen by them were exquisite. She was dressed in a long curve-hugging white dress that had a Swanna-inspired train.

"How's security?" she muttered to Cheren who had stood silently at her side the whole time.

Cheren shrugged, looking pained and distracted. Touko understood that he was worried about Belle but it irritated her to no end that he couldn't at least pretend to be enjoyed. She was worried about Belle too, but she wasn't about to abandon tonight to search for her. "I spoke to the guards. So far, nothing."

"That's good," Touko murmured. Because nothing _was _going to happen. The night was too perfect.

"Touko! You look lovely!" Skyla chirped, a flute of champagne in her hand. She appeared to be slightly tipsy but then, Touko thought with a smile on her pink lipsticked mouth, Skyla always acted slightly tipsy.

"So do you!" Touko responded. She was glad that most gym leaders-with the exception of Clay who didn't mix well with the high class-had managed to make it. In truth, she found them much more interesting than the rest of the upper class that she'd invited. They were her friends.

Skyla clasped her on the shoulder and leaned in closer to whisper, "Have you seen... Elesa?"

Touko backed away, wrinkling her nose at the smell of alcohol and said, "No, but I'm sure she'll arrive soon. You know she likes being fashionably late."

Skyla gave a scathing giggle. "Of course. Th-that's Elesa for you. Always trying to do what's c-cool and _right_ with her fans." There were tears in her eyes as she said this.

"Is everything okay?" Touko asked hesitantly.

"I'm fine!" Skyla cried out dramatically, reeling away from Touko. "If she comes, don't tell her where I am! And tell her that the Elite 4 doesn't need her!"

_What was that...? _Touko tried hard not to smile. "I do believe we've just witnessed a lover's quarrel," she murmured in undertone to Cheren. He only nodded distractedly, looking at his XTransceiver. "I'm so glad that we don't have those."

Cheren finally looked at Touko and she was surprised to see that he looked downright annoyed. "Yeah," he responded. "Because we're not lovers."

Touko widened her eyes. "Cheren," she said. "What are you saying? And can you keep your voice down?" she hissed.

Cheren blushed, but his next words were low. "Look Touko, you're my best friend and all, but it pisses me off when you that."

"Do what?"

"Rub it in my face," he said furiously. "That I'm stuck in a loveless engagement."

Touko looked puzzled. "I wouldn't say that it's loveless. Cheren, I love you but just not romantically."

Cheren crossed his arms. "It isn't enough for me," he said stubbornly.

Touko narrowed her eyes at him. "You seemed so ready when I asked you first about this. I _had_ to... Otherwise Ghetsis-"

Cheren rolled his eyes and interrupted, "Yeah, I guess I didn't know the consequences of how I'd feel afterward. Which is shitty."

Touko clenched her fists. "What is the matter with you?" she hissed. "Is this because of Belle?"

Cheren opened his mouth, then closed his mouth and smiled condescendingly at her, shaking his head. "Wow, you can't even see what's staring you in the fucking face, Touko."

She flinched, but recovered quickly. "Oh yeah? Then tell me, Cheren. Tell me what I'm obviously so blind to see!"

People were beginning to look their way but she didn't care. Each sentence that poured out of his mouth stabbed her like a thousand knives and the only way Touko knew how to retaliate was to fight back.

Cheren laughed responded cuttingly, "In the end, you only care about yourself. And if you don't, then you end up hurting the people you love most. Belle, Touya, your mother... There's a reason they're all not present in your life. You don't know what love is... Which is why you're always alone_... _You don't.._."_

"Can I interrupt this fascinating conversation?" A smooth voice interrupted.

Touko turned around, about to snarl at the man to shut the hell up when she realized who it was. "Who let you in?!" she demanded.

N chuckled slightly. "Oh Touko, you don't seem very pleased to see me."

She blinked rapidly, at the way he seemed cool and poised. Then she remembered his parting words the last time they'd faced each other. Something about him making her a very angry woman...?

Of course! She nearly struck her palm to her forehead. He was crashing her ball! And the reason why he seemed so genuinely friendly was because there were people around watching. Touko was suddenly very aware of the stares that surrounded her and she blushed unwittingly.

None of them knew about Touko and N's strained relationship. The public all thought they were the best of friends. This realization made her features split into a wide grin, although the sight of him both repulsed and yet made her heart beat faster and she instantly forgot all about her's and Cheren's fight. "N! I didn't think you'd make it!" she gushed.

N's answering grin was devilish - He knew she was being forced to be civil in public settings and this fact amused him to no end. "Well, it seems I had some spare time to make it to your little party," he said calmly. "You know I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Touko grinned too - A little too forcefully. "And I presume you came without a date? Such a shame." Her forced smile became a smirk.

"On the contrary," N began delicately, turning around to address the pretty blonde woman who was having an animated discussion with Alder. "_This_ is my date." He lightly tapped her on her naked shoulder and she turned her head to face Touko and smiled charmingly, drawing her gold shawl a little more up her arms.

Touko couldn't recognize her yet, but it was clear that Cheren evidently did. His eyes widened, and she felt him stiffen beside her. "What's going on?" he whispered.

"Cheren, you look like you have seen a ghost." The voice was unmistakable to Touko who felt the blood drain from her head.

"_Belle_?"

But it couldn't be. Belle was the girl who wore her emotions on her sleeve, who was clumsy yet lovable, who wouldn't hurt a fly. She was sweet, and cute and... and...

The exact opposite of alluring, graceful, and mysterious. Touko's eyes widened. "Wh..." she heard herself say.

"Oh dear Touko, it _has_ been too long, hasn't it?" she interrupted smoothly. She glided over to Touko and kissed the air by her cheek. Touko could smell the perfume that Belle wore, a rare sort of Bellosom scented kind. "Forgive me. It's entirely my fault that we lost contact." Her celery green eyes looked like they were sharing a private little joke, but Touko knew better. She knew that Belle was also entirely cold towards her. She wasn't _really _seeking forgiveness. She was showing her up, making Touko feel like a fool.

And it was with this realization that Touko found her voice. "Oh no, no, the fault is entirely mine," she said, an edge creeping up on its own in her voice. She couldn't help it and she regretted even saying it. Especially when something that looked like hurt and rage flashed behind Belle's eyes. She could practically hear Cheren's mind screaming in disapproval, but she couldn't help herself. In everything important, Touko _had _to win.

Belle stared at her for one undefinable moment. Her smile was all acid. "Well, I'll give you that, my dear," she finally responded. "But you can hardly _blame _me for not wanting to speak to you."

Touko's mouth went dry; she almost wanted to apologize, to get down on her knees and beg for forgiveness, that she didn't know what she was thinking for the past and now present, but before she could do just that, Belle moved past her to Cheren. "Oh Cheren! It's lovely to see you! Just how _is_ the engaged life with Touko? I imagine it must be very exciting!"

Cheren stared at her for one long moment. His mouth tightened, as if to staunch the overflowing thoughts that were currently going on in his mind. In his eyes were a myriad of emotions, all hooded and unreadable. But in the end, he said in a low, anguished murmur, "I _called_ you. Why didn't you pick up? I was so worried about you! I thought you were dead!"

Belle blinked at him. "You... You did?" she asked, and for the first time that evening, her voice betrayed her true emotions. The Belle that he once knew, the one who couldn't believe that a person could do something kind for her. But then, N gave a light cough and not even a second later she gave an impetuous giggle. "Oh silly me! I almost forgot! N here got me a new updated XTransceiver, so my contacts and everything have changed!"

N smiled warmly at Belle. "Anything for a beautiful lady such as yourself."

It was sickening to watch, almost like all of Touko's worst nightmares all crawling into one gigantic one. How had N and Belle met? Why was Belle acting this way? And why were they at _her_ ball? And more importantly, a small voice inside Touko's head repeated over and over, _What did N see in Belle? _

"Would you care for a dance?" N asked, smiling down at Belle.

"You can't!" Touko heard herself snap. Cheren, N and Belle all stared at Touko's sudden outburst so she said a lot more calmly, "Dinner is just about to be served. Once dinner has been conducted, only then is dancing permitted."

N leaned into Belle's ear and whispered something which made the blonde laugh. Touko felt sickened. Had he just made fun of her? Was Belle laughing? She felt tears well up in her eyes but before they could amount to anything against her will, she felt a warm hand grip hers and she looked at Cheren who was looking at her. His gaze seemed to say, _Don't cry. Don't make them see that they've won..._

Warmth flooded her insides and she nodded. She'd almost forgotten about Cheren, the one person who still stood at her side. "Thanks," she whispered and collected herself.

"Can I interest you in anything? Champagne? Sparkling water? I know Belle doesn't drink..." Touko said slowly. All she had to do was get the evening over with.

* * *

Belle had never felt so powerful. The evening passed by and she spent most of it with the higher class. And the look on Touko's face! Belle felt a savage sort of pleasure upon seeing the girl's hurt expression. But as the evening wore on, she felt the pleasure erode away into guilt and regret. Excusing herself from N's side for the first time that evening, she exited to the ladies' restroom and stared at herself moodily in her reflection.

If she had to admit, what would make this evening even greater was if she had Touko and Cheren at her side. Seeing them together, interacting, made her feel lonely. She felt like she should be there too, but she knew she could never go back to the old days. She knew that once N had asked her to this Ball that there would be no going back. She knew that once she reinvented herself into this new Belle, she wouldn't be able to ever go back to her old self.

The door to the bathroom opened and she turned away so that whoever had entered would not see the conflicting emotions in her eyes. She tried to recollect herself, and said through a broken smile, "Aren't Balls exhausting? I just had to get away for a minute."

"Always, that's why I make it a point never to go," a male voice answered.

Belle gasped as she turned around. "This is the ladies' room, go find your own..." And then her voice trailed off as she faced the man in front of her.

It was Touya.

* * *

"You okay?" Cheren heard Touko murmur to him.

He nodded. He was trying not to let Belle distract him, but it seemed like she was always there in his peripheral vision, laughing, glowing, glimmering and just generally happy. He couldn't believe she was beyond better. It had all made sense now to him. N had been the "charming young man" that Mrs. Fontaine must have spoken of. But how had N found her? And why?

Cheren narrowed his eyes; no doubt Belle was a pretty young woman, but he knew that N wouldn't have made her his date without some underlying reason.

"You seem troubled."

"I just think that N's using Belle."

Touko faced him with wide blue eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you think it's more than a coincidence that N brought Belle here? I think he's using her to throw us off. But I'm not sure why he would do that..."

Touko sighed. "Why wouldn't he choose Belle? She's pretty, charming, and bubbly. Everything a guy could ever want..."

She was jealous, Cheren suddenly realized. Jealous of Belle. "Snap out of it Touko! You don't honestly believe that, do you?"

Touko faced him unhappily. "No," she answered untruthfully.

"Don't put your feelings into this and think for one moment. Isn't it strange that N picked up a person that you're close to? Why would he do that?" Cheren asked urgently.

Touko shrugged. She lifted the flute of champagne to her lips and sipped it, her blue eyes seeking out N all the while. "Who knows? Maybe he has a thing for blondes. And why shouldn't he? Belle deserves happiness too. We couldn't... no, I couldn't... do that for her..."

Cheren groaned. Touko wasn't in her right mind right now. He took her by the shoulders and escorted her outside the hallway, away from everyone's prying eyes. "Look Touko. Look at me," he said.

She did, hopelessness clouding her eyes.

"What happened between Belle and you wasn't... You didn't mean for it to happen. And it wasn't entirely your fault. You thought you'd do something you thought Belle needed to know about. You crave the truth Touko, and that means that you want that for everybody. Belle just wasn't ready to face the truth yet."

Touko let out a long, defeated sigh. "Oh Cheren," she said, closing her eyes. She gave a half smile that looked like the very ghost of exhaustion. "You're just being nice. You want to protect me. I appreciate that. But at the end of the day, you and I both know that what I did is unforgivable."

"No."

"Yes, it is. I... I killed Mr. Fontaine and I didn't even... I didn't even seek forgiveness from Belle."

Because how could she, really?

As if to encapsulate her feelings, a loud, hair raising scream echoed from the ballroom.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – The Ball Part 2

Belle stared at Touya for one long moment. The man who stood in front of her was no longer the boy she had once played with many years ago. That boy had caught Tympoles and had terrorized her by threatening to dump them on her. That boy had tickled her unmercifully to get her to laugh. They had played tag together, had shared a wonderful childhood together.

This Touya had unnerved her with one single look.

"T-Touya? Wh-when did you get to Unova?"

Touya advanced on her, which made her take a step backward. She knew that as Touya had progressed into his teenage years he'd increasingly turned into a moodier person until he completely stopped visiting altogether. It suited her just fine. If truth be told, Touya gave her the creeps once he passed the age of twelve. She remembered he was prone to violent outbursts if they got into a disagreement over trivial things like how to play pretend. She also remembered sudden unexplained silences and refusals to play with them anymore. Belle knew that there was something wrong, but when she tried to ask Touya what was going on he would simply glare at her, cock his head and say, "What makes you think something's wrong? Mind your own business!" Belle hadn't asked after that.

What was even stranger was that Touko always seemed to defend Touya's actions. "Why?" Belle remembered asking.

Touko had merely shrugged. "He's had a hard life." She did not elaborate.

Belle had taken this to mean the messy divorce between the Blacks. Touko never gave many details about it but Belle could tell that if Touko's mother, as well as Touko changed their last names back to their maiden names, White, then she understood that there was more to the divorce. She had never wanted to press Touko for details; she figured that Touko would someday tell her on her own.

"I got in just a couple days ago," Touya said casually. He frowned when he realized that as he advanced on her, she retreated. He stopped in his tracks. "You look different." He said, eyeing her airbrushed make up and curled hair.

"So do you," Belle shot back. And he did. He'd shot up about a foot and a half since Belle last saw him and he towered over her. Though his eyes were the same shade of blue as Touko's, they were not open and honest like hers. These were unreadable, bleak ones. His mouth looked as if they hadn't smiled genuinely in some time and his hair was slightly longer than usual and combed neatly. He was also wearing a suit.

Touya chuckled darkly. "You haven't seen me in about eight years, Belle. I must say, Unova's grown since I last came to visit." He took another step forward, and Belle took another step backward.

"Why are you here, Touya?" Belle said. She was horrified to find out that her voice sounded faint. She swallowed. There was something about the way that Touya looked at her that made her feel something horrible was going to happen. She tried to push this thought away; after all, Touya and she were friends, right? Or at least they used to be, once upon a time. She didn't know if it still applied now, after the long years of absence of seeing or communicating with him.

Touya smirked, as if he detected the weakness in her voice and it delighted him. "What? I can't come here for a friendly visit? Talk to my old friends? Where's Cheren, huh? Always liked messing with that guy."

"I mean," Belle responded, her voice finally gaining some strength. "Why are you in the _ladies' _room? Why couldn't you just wait until I came back out?"

Touya's grin widened into a mocking one. "Beautiful _and_ smart! Nothing gets past you, Belle, does it?"

Belle placed a hand on her hip, and though her mouth was quite dry, she said calmly, "Don't try to change the subject. Tell me."

"My pleasure," Touya responded and his eyes hardened as he swiftly advanced on her, backing her against the wall. He leaned into her and placed the flat of his palms against the wall on either side of the wall. Belle was finding it difficult to breathe, and her pulse began to pick up, but she still stared at him defiantly, refusing to show him that she was terrified. She wasn't going to show him that his close proximity scared her. It would only provoke him even more. "Have I got your attention now? Yes? Good. I can count on you Belle, right? Now I need you to do a favor for me. Don't worry," he cooed, running a fingertip lightly against her cheek. She closed her eyes at his cool touch and shuddered, completely losing any false show of courage she wanted to convey to him. She wasn't Touko. She was Belle, and Belle was not the kind of person who could hold a courageous face for very long. "It isn't a hard favor."

She opened her eyes again and whispered, "What do you need? What happened to you?"

She saw his eyes tighten, and his brow furrow in contemplation. Belle had seen Touko wear this same expression when grappling with a particularly difficult problem much the same way Touko's did when she was grappling with a particularly difficult problem. It made Belle wonder what Touya was thinking about. Would he answer the reason why he was doing this? Would he take pity on her and let her go?

"Shut up." She flinched at his harsh tone. "Don't act like you're above it all. And don't change the subject, you little bitch. I want you to point Touko out to me. Where is she?"

"I don't know," Belle murmured. She couldn't help but glance longingly at her gold clutch which was lying a good fifteen feet away on the tabletop of the sink station. It was too far to reach, but if she somehow got ahold of one, she could call out Musharna and teleport herself out of this mess. "I think she went off somewhere with Cheren. I've been with N the whole time."

"N?" Touya gave a harsh bark of derisive laughter, but it did not mask the shock of surprise in his eyes. "Why? Hoping to be his next whore?"

Belle felt a hot surge of anger course through her and before she knew it, she raised her hand to slap him across his face. At the last possible second he caught her wrist, squeezed it hard. She couldn't help it; she cried out.

"I don't hit women, Belle. But try that little stunt again and I just might," Touya warned. "I find it hard to believe that you didn't find Touko, but you found N?"

Belle tried to unsuccessfully wrench her hand away from his vise-like grip on her hand and finally gave up and gave him an answer. "Why would she be with him? She's not her date. _I _am."

Touya's gaze sharpened on her. His brooding eyes flashed at her. "What?" he growled. "Tell the truth!"

"Why would I lie at that?" Belle asked. She gave one last feeble attempt to tug her hand away from his and then said, "You're hurting me."

He didn't let go of her, but his grip on her lessened so that it was no longer painful but still firm. With his free hand, he tapped his chin with an index finger and murmured more to himself than to her, "Well _this_ certainly changes everything. Oh, this is easier."

Belle shivered; she didn't like the sound of his voice or more specifically, what he had said. "What?"

Touya seemed to snap out of his thoughts. "You're coming with me."

"No!" Belle shouted, panic gripping her. She began digging her heels into the floor of the bathroom. "You can't force me!"

Touya's expression turned darker. "Is that a challenge? Because I'm sure I can."

"If you force me, I'll scream!" Belle threatened.

Touya smirked and said, "Good." And with that he pulled her against himself harshly. Belle felt something concealed hard in his inner breast pocket and momentarily wondered what it was. Touya must have seen her confused expression, because he pulled her back slightly so that he could open his jacket slightly and show her what it was.

"Scared yet?" Touya murmured into her ear as he watched her eyes widen in registration.

Belle knew she was taking a gamble, but at this point it was useless to think rationally. True to her word, Belle opened her mouth wide and gave an earsplitting scream.

* * *

"As I was saying, Mr. N, I'm sure doing business with Devon Corp will only increase your revenue," Mr. Stone said.

N thoughtfully considered Mr. Stone's offer. This wasn't _the_ Mr. Stone who was the president of Devon Corp... Rather it was the head of one of Devon's branches that was situated in Unova and so far, against Plasma Industries, it wasn't matching up. Though N would benefit from Devon's business, he knew that the other company would benefit even more. The knowledge of this gave N full satisfaction. "I agree with you Mr. Stone."

"You do?" Mr. Stone stuttered, hardly believing his good fortune.

"Yes," N said firmly. "However, I must consult with my heads first on the matter and think more of it. If you could just give me your-"

He stopped abruptly in his tracks because at that moment he'd heard the scream too.

"Good Arceus, _what_ on earth is that noise?" Mr. Stone said, scrunching his face up in pain.

N already seemed to have an idea. "Belle," he said to himself, clenching his teeth together. Of course the girl just _had_ to attract unwanted attention. He got to his feet and began to head towards where the scream had come from. All the guests of the ball had also stared up in shock, but none of them were making a move. Indeed, they all looked frozen.

Except for N, nobody seemed to want to move. N as well as... Touko and Cheren burst into the ballroom, Touko's eyes wide with alarm. She seemed to be saying something to Cheren. "I thought you said _security _was fine!"

"It is! Or was! Apart from Belle and N, nobody who isn't supposed to be here made it through the gates."

"Is that so?" Touko snapped. "Then what are you suggesting, Cheren? That one of my _guests_ is responsible for this? Because I sure as hell don't think that sounded like N."

"That's because it wasn't me," N responded smoothly as he approached them. "I believe it's Belle."

Touko faced N, her eyes darkening further. "Really? Did you put her up to this?"

N rolled his eyes. Of course Touko would presume that he would do something like that. "_Hardly_. I have better things to do than to concoct ridiculous schemes like embarrassing you in public."

"Well if it wasn't you then that means Belle must really be in trouble!" Cheren exclaimed, his eyes going wide. "Where did you hear it coming from?"

N pointed towards the restrooms and Cheren ran towards the restroom. "Belle!" he shouted. "I'm coming!" Touko started forward too, but N's hand shot out and he yanked her by the arm so that she fell against him.

"Let go of me!" she hissed. "My friend is in there!"

N rolled his eyes again. "_Yes, _the friend who never wanted to see you again. Is that right?" He turned her around so that she was facing him. "I don't want you going in there alone. It might be a trap and I'm sure that neither you and Cheren brought any Pokemon with you, did you?"

Touko stared at him for one long moment and shook her head slowly in defeat. "No, I didn't. Did you?"

N confessed, "I didn't either."

"So what now? We can't just leave her in there!" Touko said. She tried not to think about the fact that N still had his hand on her shoulder and showed no sign of removing it.

"We aren't," he responded calmly. "Cheren's already there. And we're going in too. But we have to be careful. We don't know if Belle's attacker has Pokemon or not. I suggest you call security however. They may be the only people in this building who carry their Pokemon around."

Touko nodded and pressed a button on her XTransceiver. "Okay, now what?"

N turned around and said, "Follow close behind me. Don't do anything stupid unless I tell you to."

Cheren's mind at the moment could be described as a buzzing sort of numbness; it was a strange for him. He had never experienced his mind in such a frenzy that he couldn't grasp any concrete details. All his mind was focused on was getting into that room and seeing if Belle was okay.

He squeezed his eyes shut. If anything were to happen to Belle, anything at all, he knew he'd be partially responsible. After all, he blamed himself for the reason she'd come to this party. He entered the Mens' Room and upon noting that nobody was in there, stood in front of the Ladies' room without a thought. In any other point, Cheren would never enter this restroom; he was such a stickler for rules, that to this day he'd never entered in, but now he barely glanced at the symbol that indicated this room was only for ladies.

With a push, he opened the door and there stood Belle who was standing there in the center of the bathroom, hands behind her back, a fearful look in her eyes. She appeared to be quite alone.

"Belle?"

"Cheren," she said, her eyes growing wider upon noting his arrival. "You have to leave. You're not supposed to be here. Where's N?"

"Why did you scream?" Cheren asked. He felt warmth rush to his fingertips as feeling was regained. "Is everything okay?"

Belle nodded slowly. "Don't mind me... You should probably go."

Cheren cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" He didn't know why he asked the question. It was obvious that Belle wasn't okay. Cheren slowly approached Belle and she quickly took a step backward. "What's wrong?" he asked soothingly, his voice dropping.

He could tell she was trying very hard to keep the panic out of her eyes, but why?

He took a step closer and then noticed that the muscles in her arms were straining. "Are you... tied up?"

Belle's eyes threatened to overflow with tears, but she said, "You have to leave, Cheren! Now!"

"Too late for that," a man's voice chuckled. "Electrode, now!"

Before Cheren could do anything, he felt something sharp and searing course through him to his very core and felt his limbs go useless. Belle screamed again. He dropped to the floor, unmoving by Belle's feet. He fought to keep his eyes open, but it felt like fighting against a current and he was losing the battle to keep his sight running. The last thing he saw from his vantage point was the bathroom door thudding open and a pair of high polished black boots, as well as a the hem of a white skirt. He passed out.

* * *

"N, nice of you to join," Touya said calmly, stepping out of one of the bathroom and into view. One hand that held a gun was extended towards Belle.

"Touya!" Touko nearly yelled it out in shock. She couldn't believe that her brother was here and playing a part in this. "What is the meaning of this! What did you do with Cheren?"

"Oh, you're here too, Touko?" Touya said, his eyes shooting towards her. "And as far as your boy toy, nothing. My Electrode electrocuted him. He wasn't important enough to stay conscious for this little chat."

"I don't want to be rude," N began. "But who the hell are you and why are you here, threatening my date?"

Touya smirked. "Well obviously to lure you in. As to who I am... Shouldn't that be obvious? Can't you spot the similarities between my darling twin sister and I?"

N twisted his head around to look at Touko. His eyes were unreadable when he asked, "He's your brother?"

Touko nodded and tried to step forward, but N blocked her way, standing in front of her. She blew out a frustrated breath and concentrated on Belle's eyes who were locked onto her's in a fierce grip. Belle seemed to be trying to convey a sort of message to her, but _what _was it?

Meanwhile Touya circled around Belle and wrapped an arm around her waist, and rested his chin on her shoulder. His other hand had a gun pressed to her head. She gave a low whimper, feeling the cold metal against her hair. "You'd better follow my instructions, otherwise I _will _blow her brains out and I would hate to get them on me. I do hate doing unnecessary laundry."

Touko's insides went cold. She'd heard Touya making foul threats like this before at home whenever they got into a typical sibling argument, but he'd never acted upon them because he'd never carried a weapon of any sort. She wondered what happened to Touya, what caused him to act this way. In the meantime, she fixed her gaze on her former best friend.

Belle's eyes jotted towards the surface where all the sinks were situated and then traveled back to Touko's face before swiveling back there. Touko allowed herself a look at the tabletop and saw Belle's gold clutch there. Was Belle's message to pick it up? But how was she to do that when Touya had that gun pressed against Belle's head? She gulped.

"For Arceus's sake, that is no way to treat a lady," N said. "Unhand her."

Touko saw Cheren twitch almost imperceptibly and wondered if Touya would shoot him. She knew that Touya was unhinged at times as well as unruly, but she never knew he would get this far. "What do you want, Touya? Why are you doing this?" she asked, injecting as much calmness as she could into her voice.

Touya smirked. "What do I want?"

"If you want money, I'll give you all of it. Just," she said, swallowing in between her sentences. "Just put that gun down. Belle doesn't deserve this."

Touya's mouth twisted. "No," he agreed. "She doesn't. And if you think money will pay me off, think again. What I want isn't money. I want _him._" He pointed the gun to N. "Say we make a trade, sis? I give you Belle for your precious N."

Despite all her fear, she was confused. Why would he want N? What was he planning? But this was her only chance to do what Belle wanted her to do. "Alright," she conceded. "But first, untie Belle. She doesn't deserve to be tied up like an animal about to go to the slaughterhouse."

"Touko," N hissed. "What did I tell you about following _my _lead?"

She ignored him.

Touya lowered the gun. "Very well," he responded. He put the gun in his pocket and began to untie her bonds. As he was distracted for a couple minutes, Touko took the opportunity to dash over to sinks and grab the clutch. She opened it and gasped as she spotted the four Pokeballs within. So _that _was what Belle wanted her to really have.

"You cunt!" Touya swore. "I told you not to move. Electrode!" The Electrode faced her and Touko knew she didn't have enough speed to defend herself. She plunged her hand and blindly pulled out a Pokeball right as N jumped in front of her. The electric attack that was intended for Touko instead electrocuted N and he crumpled to the floor. Touko didn't have time to register what happened. Her thoughts were on only one idea right now, and it was on stopping Touya. She pressed the ball's white button and a white flash momentarily blinded her.

Mienshao was released and it knew instinctively what to do without Touko issuing a command. It used a powerful Drain Punch on Electrode. The force of the punch knocked Electrode against the wall, leaving a dent. Amidst all the confusion, Touko ran over to Belle's side.

"Are you alright?"

"Untie me," was Belle's reply that came out in short pants. Touko unraveled the rope that bound Belle's hands together. She had just finished loosening them when she felt the barrel of a gun pressed hard against her temple. She froze, but did not turn to look at him. She didn't think she could bear it to look at him, to see whatever expression was currently on his face. Was it the expressionless one of a killer, or full of emotion because Touko was his sister? Part of her didn't think her own brother would seriously put a bullet to her brain, but a very small part of her also thought that maybe this person who had held this gun was no longer her brother and therefore very comfortable with the notion of releasing the catch.

"Touya," she heard herself say but he interrupted her.

"No, shut up. You can't make me do anything. You move at all and I will shoot you, I swear to fuck I will."

Touko drew a deep breath. "Okay," she said as calmly as she could. Her heart was slamming against her chest, making it hard to think her way out of this one. "Okay, Touya, you've won."

From the corner of her eye she could see Belle lifting up her skirts, though she couldn't understand why.

"Damn straight I did. Now, bring me N's body" He waggled the gun and fixed his sister with a blank stare. "Do it now."

Touko willed her numb knees to get up. Her mind was fiercely searching for ways to get out of this mess. She approached N's body and her heart squeezed painfully at the sight of his unconscious form. He had sacrificed himself to protect her, but _why_? "Touya, what happened?" she whispered to herself. How had her brother gone so evil?

She approached N and wrapped her arms around him and half pulled, half dragged him towards Touya and Belle who had her hands near her mouth now and seemed to be whispering something. "Good girl."

Her heart contracted again when she saw Cheren lying at Belle's feet and she once again failed to comprehend what the hell was going on. Once she returned, Touya chuckled and Belle gripped Touko's shoulder hard, as if to steady her. Touko didn't want to let go.

"Musharna, teleport us out of here!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – Bitter Cold

Touko had never teleported to great distances before so she wasn't sure what to expect. She had anticipated feeling disarmed and it took her a couple of seconds to adjust to the new atmosphere. She could feel something crunching and wet beneath her feet and when she felt the instant chill wrapping up her body, making the hair on her arms prickle. It was snowing. But she still couldn't tell where exactly they were and to top things off she felt dizzy and nauseous. The stars glittered above coldly. The hair on her bare arms prickled upward and she shivered hard. "N?" she called. "Cheren?"

No response from either person.

"Touko?" a small voice came from her left.

"Belle, is that you?" Touko asked. She wrapped her already numbing hands around her bare arms, but it did little to warm her up. It was so cold, that Touko could hardly think.

"Yeah, is it just us?"

"I... I don't think so. I think I can see N. Where's Cheren?"

Touko's eyes were slowly starting to adjust to the darkness. She breathed in the fresh night air deeply and she saw N huddled a few feet away from a silhouette that looked like Belle. His pale green hair was splayed around him. She scanned the clearing they were in. There were trees, evergreen and bare as well as frozen puddles everywhere. She could feel the insides of her stomach slowly draw inward, pushing all its contents upward. It was becoming increasingly harder to keep it together.

"I can't see him."

"You did grab onto him, right?"

Touko felt her insides reject all the champagne and appetizers. She doubled over, feeling her stomach squeeze everything out and she retched out air once or twice before vomiting. When she recovered a few minutes later, she was shaking with effort and wiping her mouth with her bare hand. She felt a lot better, although slightly weaker.

"It takes some time to get used to teleporting. I threw up too when Musharna used Teleport on me the first time. It took me a couple of tries before I stopped vomiting altogether," Belle explained quietly. She wrapped her shawl around her tightly.

Touko nodded, but wondered why Belle was even talking to her. She supposed it was because the blonde had nobody else to talk to. "I thought you had Cheren," she managed to say through shaking lips.

There was a pause as Belle registered what Touko had said. "I thought you had him. I was too busy trying to get us all out," Belle said.

"I had to take care of N!"

"Does N matter more than Cheren now?"

"No, I'm just saying... I didn't have him!" Touko's mind raced through the events that transpired during the last few minutes It all happened in such a flash. She relied solely on her life instinct and need to survival. There simply had been no time to…

…But Cheren…

There was a silence as the two girls stared at each other in growing horror. If neither of them had Cheren, then where was he really?

* * *

Something hard slapped Cheren in the face and he awoke with a start. The lights felt harsh and painful to his eyes, so he kept his eyes shut for some time. But the lights were not as uncomfortable as the throbbing in his skull. He didn't have to feel the back of his head to know that there was a lump that had formed upon hitting his head. It took him barely a second to remember what had happened last. Touya was holding Belle hostage. He sat up and rubbed his jaw gingerly. A slow, painful ache erupted when he applied pressure to it. "Good, you're awake," Touya said pleasantly. Cheren blinked one or two times, trying to get Touya's face into focus and to get used to the lights. However, his contacts had dried in his eyes, resulting in the world being a blue accompanied by a sharp pain.

Clenching his jaw together, Cheren attempted to move into a sitting position. When that failed, he managed to hold himself in the prone position.

"Where... Where's Belle?" Cheren asked, panting from the effort of holding himself up. He tried to move his legs but found that only some of his toes moved. It would be awhile before he would be able to walk, let alone stand.

"Good question. I was hoping you could answer that," Touya responded. He was crouched in front of Cheren, looking at him closely. Behind the facade of calm in his blue eyes, Cheren could see that he seemed slightly panicked.

"How could I know? I was knocked out the whole time," Cheren answered. Judging by Touya's expression, Belle had somehow managed to escape. "What happened?"

Touya didn't respond. With a muttered curse, he rose to full height and extracted an old cell phone from his pocket. He did not even glance at Cheren when he said, "Don't even think about escaping."

_Like I could..._ Cheren thought. Frustrated, he tried to move his legs again and failed. Where had Belle gone? He could have sworn that before he passed out N and Touko had entered. Perhaps they had fled somehow. But why did they leave him behind? Cheren tried not to feel hurt by the fact that he was left behind. There was probably a very good reason for all of this...

And why was Touya using an old cellphone to call somebody? Why wasn't he using his XTransceiver? Cheren knew XTransceivers were the product of Devon Corp and that they had sold their patent to Plasma Industries. If Touya wasn't using his own XTransceiver, then he must want to talk to somebody who either didn't own one, or a person whom Plasma Industries couldn't track. Considering who owned Plasma Industries, Cheren was going to go with his last theory.

"Yes, hello? No, everything is _not _going well. You gave me the wrong target! Target H went with somebody else to this event... Who? Does it matter who? Target W's fuckin' friend who fuckin' brought her own _Pokemon _to the goddamn party... I isolated W and H, as well as H's partner, but they all teleported using one of the Pokemon that was brought along. All I have left is . A."

Cheren's ears pricked at that. Target A... Were they all going by last names? If that was true then Cheren was A, Touko was W and N had to be H.

"So what am I supposed to do now? I can't get out if I haven't secured them... Do I kill A?"

Cheren sucked in a sharp breath and held it in, straining his ears to hear the answer on the other line with all his might. Cheren wasn't the kind of guy who was brave and looked at death boldly. Instead, he felt himself freeze up momentarily in panic. He slowly let his breath go and tried to breathe normally, but his breaths came in short gasps. Cheren had experienced panic attacks before when he was out in the wilderness, but he couldn't remember ever feeling this afflicted by one. The thought of death suddenly seemed a lot more real to him than it ever had before. At the same time, he struggled with his legs but all that happened was that they twitched. It was a start but there was no way he was going to get out of this mess with how slow the feeling was spreading across his legs. _So this is how Cheren Arai dies... _He couldn't help thinking to himself. There had to be a way out of this, but what was it?

* * *

N's brain was throbbing against his skull when he opened his eyes. He was staring at the night sky and he could see billions of stars. Wherever they were, there weren't many city lights. The cold night air burned when he inhaled and he shivered. He was lying on a bed of snow and it was falling rapidly. Already there were small piles surrounding him.

A bit away from him he could hear two females arguing over something. His first instinct told him that they were fighting over _him,_ because naturally what else would two girls be arguing over? But upon further inflection, he decided that they were arguing over another boy.

"How could I have him, Belle? Answer me that! I was busy trying to fight my own brother!"

"Yeah? Well maybe this could all have been prevented if you'd _just _repaired your stupid family's problems. Maybe then they wouldn't have blown up in my face!"

"Your face! Only your face? Don't be an idiot!"

N winced at how loud they were being and slowly sat up, surveying the scene. Belle and Touko were red faced as they shouted at each other, even though they were only a couple of feet apart. He closed his eyes and tried to get his bearings straight. These woods seemed familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

* * *

Touko's anxiety was plainly written on her face, but Belle seemed to revert back to her old self. N could read her emotions as if she had not had that crash course with Anthea and Concordia. Despite their thoroughness, perhaps altering one's nature in two weeks was not as feasible as he initially anticipated…

Then he frowned. Where were they? He stared at the snow around him and then his eyes widened in registration. If they were indeed where N thought they were, then Musharna had teleported them cities away. He had to marvel at the Pokemon's vast psychic ability.

"Shut up!" he said loudly to the night air and both Belle and Touko abruptly stopped arguing.

"You're awake?" Belle asked him breathlessly. Her hair looked windswept and she was shivering slightly, but other than that she looked fine.

"Yes," he mumbled. "I need to think."

"We have no time to think!" Touko said loudly, facing him too. "We have to go back and get Cheren."

"She's right," Belle said. She prepared to call her Musharna back out.

N closed his eyes. "No," he said quietly. He could bend his right leg at this point but standing up on his own would be futile.

"What do you mean, no?" Touko asked. "Cheren's with that madman, anything could happen to him!"

"Where do you think we are, Touko?" N asked.

"I don't know. Some frozen wasteland."

N chuckled. "Well I do. We're in the Moor of Icirrus. Belle's Musharna has teleported us hundreds of miles away from Castelia. Hundreds of miles, Touko. It's quite an extraordinary feat. Most Pokemon can't do that, let alone do it twice within a day. Musharna needs rest."

Belle lowered her Pokeball uncertainly. N was right, but it still bothered her to no end that they could not go back in an instant. Images of Cheren dying a sadistic death pervaded her brain, the last one involving Touya using a wrench and saw to pull his toes and fingers off. Belle had seen that once in a horror movie with Cheren and Touko and had spent the rest of the month sleeping in Touko's tent.

"You say we're in the Moor of Icirrus," Touko chattered now as she moved a little distance away. She muttered a swear word under her breath, trying to pull herself together. She could feel the insides of her nostrils growing slick and wet and hoped she wouldn't start dripping. It was mortifying to think about snot slopping down her front with N around. "So how are we supposed to get out?"

It was a common fact that it was easy to get lost in the Moor of Icirrus. Most of Icirrus's citizens forbade their children to enter as there was a haunted, dangerous sort of stigma that surrounded this area. Belle and Touko did not have fond memories of this area. They had explored parts of the Moor because Touko had insisted on account that there might be a rare Pokemon in the area. Cheren and Belle thought it was an awful idea, but had reluctantly gone along to make sure she was okay. Other than the multitudes of Stunfisk and Palpitoads however, they hadn't found much and it took them the whole two days to find their way out. Of course, this had taken place in the spring time, so the trio wasn't anticipating death by hypothermia.

But it was extremely cold, and the possibility of freezing to death had become a harsh reality. Touko wished she had a jacket at least. She turned to N who was struggling to move his legs and had a sudden image of him placing his jacket over her shoulders. Ashamed, she brushed the thought away. _I don't like him, I don't like him, I don't like him... _she chanted to herself silently.

"Lucky for you both, I know my way around here," N said, surprising both girls. He had visited the Moor of Icirrus long ago and had spent nearly a year here, trying to figure out the legend of Keldeo, Virizion, Terrakion and Cobalion. By the end of the year, he'd figured out the moor pretty well, but none of the legendary Swords of Justices had come up. He had been forced to conclude that these Pokemon were simply that - a legend.

Belle glared at N and Touko. "We don't have that kind of time! What about Cheren? What if Touya kills him?"

Touko was staring at Belle with a curious expression on her face, as if she half wondered why Belle was acting so deranged. "He wouldn't do that."

Belle rounded on her. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and her nose was starting to turn pink as well, but her eyes shone dangerously. "Oh yeah? How are you sure? When was the last time you even saw Touya?"

Touko's curious expression was replaced by one that suggested that she was caught off guard. Her eyes adopted a glazed look, as if she was trying to remember the last time she'd seen her own brother. "I... I think it's been..."

Belle rolled her eyes and cut her off. "That's what I thought! How would you know? He's practically a stranger, now!" she snapped. She looked at N and hissed, "Well? Get up!"

N looked quite affronted - He could not believe Belle was being so harsh. Especially to him! Aside from Touko, none of his acquaintances or "friends" had ever used such a harsh tone. He was about to tell her off but then, he thought, staring at her panicked face which despite her obvious failure at it, was trying so hard to stay composed. N knew at that moment that Belle really cared for Cheren. Something gnawed at his insides, chewing him inside out. "If somebody could help me," he said through gritted teeth, trying to dispel the envy that had suddenly overtaken him. He wasn't quite sure why he was envious upon looking at Belle's expression - Indeed, he was almost certain that he harbored no feelings at all for her. She was merely a pawn.

Belle let loose a frustrated sigh and stomped over towards him. She leaned downward and grabbed one of his arms, pulling it over her shoulders. Then with clenched teeth, she got up. Belle had always been stout. While the bootcamp had allowed her to drop some of the plumpness she carried around, N could not do much to accommodate for the body's natural shape. At this point, he was thankful since she was able to support his weight. He doubted Touko's petite body would be able to do it. "Thank you," he murmured.

Belle seemed to soften just a little. "Just... just tell me how to get out," she said, her voice still snappish. Her shoulders had relaxed somewhat though, as if she was no longer as tense. Perhaps she was relaxing now that they were actually doing something.

"Okay, but we'll have to be very careful," N said. He could now move his right foot. "We can't startle any Pokemon into a fight. Your own Pokemon might be strong, but your Musharna needs a rest and it might take us hours to get out of here, depending on how frozen some swamp areas are."

"Hours?!" Belle asked. He felt her body quake against his and he realized that she was trying very hard not to cry.

He sighed. "He's not going to die, Belle," he said. He pointed a finger in the direction that they were supposed to be going in.

"How can you be sure?" Belle asked fretfully.

"Yes, how _can_ you be sure?" Touko asked, speaking up for the first time since Belle had picked him up. She was standing quite alone against the frozen landscape, glaring at him with distrustful eyes. Her dress, the hem soaked due to the snow, blended with the rest of ground, giving her a ghostly appearance. The only colors on her face were her blue eyes and the flushed appearance. He realized, belatedly that out of all of them she seemed the coldest because she didn't even have a shawl to protect her against the cold.

N fixed her with a wry smile as they all began to walk. "I get the feeling that Touya wasn't after Cheren. He must have been after you or I. You seem quite uncomfortable. Are you cold?"

Was it his imagination or had Touko's cheeks suddenly gone darker in red? She ignored his last question and instead asked, "What makes you think that?"

Belle frowned. "Now that I think about it, I think you're right, N. When Touya cornered me, he seemed to want either you or Touko. But I think..." she frowned, trying to recall what had happened in the bathroom when she and Touya were both alone. "I think he wanted you."

There was a silence as the trio pondered this. "But why?" Touko asked, shivering.

Belle rolled her eyes. "Well, why not? N is basically _the _face of Unova, aside from you, possibly. But you're not as rich as he is... or as attractive."

"You flatter me, my dear," N said absentmindedly, scanning the trees and trying to remember which was the fastest way out. "Are you sure you're not cold, Touko?"

"Of course I'm cold, you nitwit," Touko burst out. Her mood had soured considerably upon Belle's last remark. "It's like, negative one billion degrees Kelvin here. For Groudon's sake, of _course _I'm cold. The sooner we get out here, the better!"

"Well, at least we agree on something then," Belle responded nastily. "Cheren might be dead for all we know, and you're not doing anything to help matters."

Touko snapped her mouth open to give an angry retort but N spoke first. "Belle, for the last time, Cheren is not going to die. Touko, if you were cold, why didn't you say something? You could make yourself useful and help us out of here quicker and get under my arm in the process of getting yourself warmer."

Belle rolled her eyes. If this was N's way of _flirting_ with Touko...

She shook her head and despite all her worries, couldn't help but feel irritably amused at what he'd just said. For somebody who was good at getting women, he sure didn't know how to do it with Touko... Unless he really liked her.

But there was no way _N_ really liked Touko. N didn't like anyone, and the last person he'd care for was the girl who had handed him a crushing defeat in the one thing that N had prided himself on - His trust and care for Pokemon. For Arceus's sake, he'd brought _Belle_ to the ball to grate on Touko's nerves!

She watched Touko's cheeks flare up. She could tell what Touko was thinking. Touko did not want show everyone she was the kind of person to cave into weakness, especially to N. But Belle also knew that Touko wanted more than anything to be close to N because she was attracted to him. Touko never admitted it to Belle, but Belle understood that Touko still liked, and maybe even was in love with N. She was too stubborn to admit it.

Eventually, Touko slunk up to N and grabbed his arm and put it around her shoulder, hoisting him up. Touko felt N stiffen at first, but then gradually relax against her and she tried not to breathe in his scent as she instantly felt herself warm up against him. She wondered briefly if it was only his body warmth that was making her heat up this fast. Above them, there was a Noctowl hooting softly into the night. "That's rare," N commented mildly. "Noctowl aren't exactly native to Unova."

Belle looked interested as well, if only for a moment as she scanned the trees. If she ever got out of this mess and managed to make it back to Professor Juniper, she would have to report her findings. The thought of the professor suddenly made her heart ache. She was hundreds of miles away from home. She wondered what her mother was doing and it wasn't long before Cheren's face swam up to her's. He had looked so handsome tonight. Did he notice her finally? Where was he now? She sniffed, trying to calm herself down, remembering Anthea and Concordia's lessons drilled into her head.

"It's going to be fine Belle," N said in a soothing voice. "We'll be out in another hour or so and once we reach Iccirus, I am sure we can borrow a Pokemon to fly us back. They would not object to seeing Touko's and I's faces."

"We'll get him back," Touko said. She wished she had her Pokemon with her. She felt completely naked without them and she couldn't help thinking that if only she had her Braviary with her... Unfortunately all of her Pokemon were in her's and Cheren's apartment. "I promise, Belle." Her voice was thick with emotion when she said this last part.

Belle's nerves prickled in annoyance at what Touko had said and how she had said it. Yeah right, that Touko cared about her. She said, unable to help herself, "Is this promise exactly like the promise you gave me last time?" she rolled her eyes and then added, "Do you really care about Cheren?"

The words were like a slap to the brunette's face. It took some time for Touko to recover. She gripped N's hand hard, unaware that she was doing so. He winced slightly. "I care... I care about Cheren too! He's one of my best friends!"

"Then act like it, Touko! Because you never act like you care about anyone! Your mother, Cheren, me..." Belle's voice caught and suddenly it was no longer about Cheren anymore. "I was your friend, Touko. I was your _best_ friend."

"I do care!" Touko yelled back, and the new warmth that had flooded her body was now turning to ice. "Do you think I never cared about you? These last three years have been killing me because I've always wanted to talk to you but I couldn't."

"Ladies..." N said warningly, but both girls didn't listen to him.

"And you were right to stay away, Touko. Because frankly, I never wanted to see your face again. I'd be happy if you didn't. You destroyed my family!"

"I didn't mean to!"

Belle wrenched N's hand away from her and he almost collided with Touko who managed to hold him upright. She breathed into N's chest and she smelled beyond the expensive cologne. She could smell something familiar and something foreign at the same time - Something dangerously delicious and spicy. N drew away from her, putting his hands on her shoulders so that he could steady himself. But Touko's eyes were only on Belle's, as the blonde said, "What part didn't you mean to do Touko? The part where you meddled into my family after I distinctly told you not_. To. Interfere?_" Her green eyes, normally so naive and pure were now full of venom and something akin to rage that could drive a person insane.

Touko was silent for a very long time. It had happened three years ago, true, but Touko felt like it was only yesterday that Belle had confronted her with almost the same lines. She could no longer feel N's presence, or even the winter because right now all she could smell was the metallic, sickening scent of blood, and all she could hear was the life support machine. She could almost see _him_ in her mind's eye. Her insides wrenched so painfully that she felt like she was going to throw up again. She swallowed, forcing her thoughts away. "I never thought..."

"And that's your problem," Belle snapped. "You never _think_. You only do what you feel is right. Maybe that gets you far with your Pokemon, but with humans? You need to learn how to control yourself and respect another person's wishes. You poked your nose where it didn't belong. You asked questions about my _father_ when I told you not to."

"Weren't you curious to find out too?" Touko asked.

"No! It was his business!"

"What are you two talking about?" N asked, bewildered. He could finally stand without any help, but he was having trouble walking. Slowly and tentatively, he released his grip off of Touko. Her eyes sliced to his, as if noticing him for the first time but only for a moment. The look she gave him was haunting, as if she wasn't really seeing him there. For the first time, N could _see_ the damage Touko had done in her own eyes, and he didn't even know _what_ it was that she had done.

"None of your business," Belle said. There was an angry glint in her eye as she rounded upon him. "It was a mistake to bring me to her party, N," she said. "I can't stand her."

"What did she do?" N pressed.

Belle considered telling him for a long moment. In the end, she told him because she wanted Touko to suffer, and what better way to do so through telling N? "She's responsible for the reason my mother went insane. She's... she's responsible for my father's death. She forced him into suicide."

* * *

When Cheren woke up, he was surprised to find himself in his own apartment. Somebody had tucked him into his own bed. Weird... Disoriented, he tried to sit up but couldn't. What happened? The last thing he remembered was fearing for his life and trying to get out of it. But now...

Something was definitely wrong. Once again, he tried to bring himself upward, but he discovered that somebody had literally tied him to the bed. His hands were tied to the bedpost and panic once more gripped him. "Shit," he muttered.

And then the door opened and a woman entered in. "Ah, Cheren," she said. She was gorgeous, and vaguely familiar, but Cheren couldn't place where he'd seen her. "I'm glad to see you've settled quite nicely. Your Pokemon as well as Touko's have been confiscated."

"How did you get here?"

The woman took a seat directly in front of him on a chair and crossed her legs. She ignored his question, smiling at him. "How are you, Cheren?"

"Well, I'd be better if you untied me," he said. "How did you get in here? And how did I get here? And who are you anyway?"

She smiled, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulders. "I'm sorry, I'd really like to untie you, but I can't. I hope you understand. As to how I got in here, well it's common knowledge where you and Touko share an apartment. All I had to do was bust in. It wasn't very hard for my employers."

"Who are your employers?"

"Well, I believe you've already met one of them."

"Touya?"

"Oh, so you _aren't_ as stupid as you look? Well done."

"How did you meet him?"

"Well, I met his boss first. As to who _that_ is, you'll see soon enough."

Cheren gritted his teeth. "Okay, so who are you? And why are you working for them?"

She smirked, uncrossing her legs. "I've had enough of N's little antics. He's condescending and cold and as far as I'm concerned, he doesn't care about his employers. As to who I am? Well, my real name is Jane..."

She saw Cheren's eyes widen, his pupils dilating in understanding. Her smirk deepened as her green eyes confirmed what he was thinking.

"I prefer being called Vivian."


End file.
